Digidreams do Come True (2016)
by Relaxing Pikachu
Summary: This takes place 2 years after 02 and all of the DDs are taken back to the Digital World against their will in strange ways and when they get there, it's even stranger. The question is why. Please r/r and don't let the length of this fic, turn you away..
1. Last Day

Hi everyone, I decided to try rewriting this story. I plan on changing quite a few things as I felt most of the characterizations were a bit off and the dialogue comes across as a bit awkward as well as some plot points, I feel. I've been meaning to do this for years, but finally got the urge to do so recently, so let's see how much my writing has improved and hope you like it. If you would like to compare it to the one written back in 2001, just check the site for it. Oh yeah, I know that Tri is going on at the moment, but none of what's going on there will affect this story nor will there be changes that'll include the Tri canon, although I may use the high school information for Taichi, Sora, and Yamato, as I just had them attending Odaiba High School originally.

* * *

Hello, everyone. This is another story for you, a strange one. I had a dream (remind me not to listen to Digimon-based songs or to watch it before going to bed), and decided to write it all down to see what I could come up with.

Anyway, with the way this dream was, it's pretty much an alternate ending to Digimon Adventure 02. I dreamed this ending to 02 before it originally aired in Japan For the record, there are some differences between how the Adventure 02 series was and how this story is. For one thing, for this story's continuity (as in when 02 actually takes place), Yamato and Sora aren't a couple (no people, I do not hate Yamato x Sora; I like the pairing just fine). None of the kids are dating and Tailmon never got her Holy Ring back from Gennai. Thinking about it now, maybe I should change the story to "Digimon Adventure 04". lol

Just so you know, anything shown in italics indicates that it is a flashback (only for short sequences, anyway). Any dialogue using single quotation marks indicates that the character is thinking, unless used in a grammatically correct fashion. Anything with an asterisk by it means that there is a note about it at the end of the chapter.

Now, as always, I do not own any of the characters or places associated with the show, manga, game, etc. Bandai and Toei have that honor. Also, here are the ages of everyone for this fic...

Jou: 15/17 (Final year of junior high school/second year of high school)  
Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 14/16 (Second year of junior high school/First year of high school)  
Koushirou: 13/15 (First/Final year of junior high school)  
Mimi: 13/15 (Year 8 of middle school/year 10 of high school)  
Miyako: 12/14 (Final year of elementary/second year of junior high school)  
Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 11/13 (Year 05 of elementary/First year of junior high school)  
Iori: 9/11 (Year 03/05 of elementary)

Chapter 01: "さよならみんなさん…"  
"Sayonara, minna-san…"  
"Goodbye all…" Last Day in the Digital World…

It had been almost two years since the children had seen their Digimon partners last. After their final battle facing Oikawa and his master, and sending all the Digimon inhabiting the earth back to their home, all gates leading to and from the Digital World closed for good, just like it had before.

After that infamous battle, it seemed that only the Chosen Children had any recollection of all that had happened during it. Even the parents of the Chosen Children seemed to remember it this time. All footage of the Digimon invading earth seemed to mysteriously vanish, and any news story or report on the Digimon that had inhabited the earth, wasn't in the old records, making it seem as if it had never happened at all.

Sitting on her canopy bed, wearing a dark green skirt, white stockings, and a red sweater, was a 15-year-old tanned-haired Tachikawa Mimi. It was late in the afternoon, and she'd just returned home from school. She sat down on her bed and sighed heavily. She was indeed thinking of her plant-like Digimon, Palmon. She held her Digivice in her hand as her bright, brown eyes began to water slightly.

'Oh Palmon, how I miss you and the other Digimon so much. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget that day…our last day in the Digital World…'

* * *

A handsome dark-haired man, wearing a long, white robe stood in front of the children before him, a dire look upon his smooth face. "I hate to have to tell you all this, but you'll have to say goodbye to your Digimon partners."

"Gennai," a big-haired boy by the name of Yagami Taichi cried, "you can't possibly mean that!"

Gennai looked over at the boy, and then at the others, who also were astounded to hear such a command. He looked away from them, and stared down at the ground. This was the only answer Taichi and the others needed.

"I don't want to say good bye again," the handsome, basketball player, Takeru, argued as he grasped his off-white fisherman's cap tightly in his hands.

"Why do we have to say good bye?" a girl with dirty-red hair asked gently, nearly crying. "Why can't we visit anymore?"

"Well, Sora, your purpose has been served, and both worlds are safe once again. The different gates that you all used to get to and from the Digital World will no longer be operable for you all to travel through. It'll be impossible for you to stay. The Digital World is also reformatting itself, like it did before after you older ones defeated Apocalymon. All of the other children of the world have said goodbye to their Digimon partners, it's now time for you guys to do the same."

"So _that's_ why you wanted us to come back to the Digital World after everything was dealt with…to break this depressing news to us," Taichi muttered.

Gennai slowly nodded. "As before..."

"We know, we know."

With that, all of the children seemed to wander off to different areas of the terrain to say their goodbyes.

Taichi was sitting down on a tree stump, quite gloomy. Seated with her back to him, was Taichi's childhood friend, Takenouchi Sora, and their partners seated on the ground beside them.

"Don't worry, Taichi, I'm sure we'll see each other again," the orange fire reptile by the name of Agumon assured his big-haired partner.

"Yeah, we did before," the pink bird added.

Sora frowned, and lowered her head. "I'm not so sure this time, Piyomon."

The bird couldn't help but stare up at her partner in grave confusion. "Why?"

"I kind of feel the same way," Taichi chimed in as he stood. "Look how long it took us before we saw any of you after our first adventure together…three years and a few times before that. Does this mean that we'll have to wait about another three, or until something else threatens our world or yours before we can see you on a regular basis again?"

Sora stared up at Taichi, and couldn't hold back any longer. She jumped up and hugged the boy tightly, and sobbed, "I don't want to say goodbye again, Taichi! I-I just can't!" Taichi patted Sora awkwardly on the back, not knowing what to say. After a short moment, she let go and wiped some more of her tears away while apologizing, but Taichi brushed it off.

"Let's not think about that," Agumon suggested, hoping to ease the negative tension currently brewing in the air. "Try to remember all of the good times we've had together."

"You're right," Taichi nodded as he hugged the reptile. He shed tears, but tried his best not to break down. "I'm going to miss you, Agumon."

"I'm going to miss you too, Taichi," Agumon sniffled.

"Oh, Piyo!" Sora cried as she hugged the bird-like Digimon tightly, "I was hoping to never have to go through this again!"

"I'm going to miss you Sora, just never forget me..."  
x x x x  
In another part of the area, stood the hyper, Motomiya Daisuke, his back leaned up against a tree, while his blue Digimon partner, V-mon, stared up at him with sad eyes.

"Well, it was nice knowing you, V-mon." Even though he was trying to hide it, Daisuke's voice was a bit shaky, and his nose was starting to run.

"Same here, Daisuke," V-mon whimpered.

He ran his hand through his spiky, maroon hair and stared up at the sky. "Who would've thought that there was a whole world filled with you little guys, and that I would have my very own, who turned out to be the best friend I ever had."

The goggle-headed boy couldn't hold back any longer, and cried heavily as he gave his partner a gigantic hug. "I-I-I'm going to m-m-miss you, V-mon," he sobbed, "just promise me that you'll never ever forget me!"

"Just as long as you don't forget me," V-mon bawled as his dark, innocent eyes flooded with tears.

"Just to think, I never got the chance to teach you how to play soccer properly."

"I'll pretend that you did, and make up the rules as I go along. That way, I won't forget about you and your love for the game!"

Daisuke broke the hug and gave him a small smile. Only V-mon would say something so adorable. "I don't have anything, but I want you to have this."

The 11-year-old boy dug through his pocket, and pulled out a bracelet which looked to be made from a bunch of seashells. He tied it onto V-mon's right wrist. "What's this?"

"It's a friendship bracelet."

"A friendship bracelet?"

He nodded. "I-I was actually planning on giving this to Hikari-chan," he blushed slightly and scratched his nose before continuing, "but I'm giving this to you instead. You are my best friend, and I could always make another one to give to Hikari-chan." He wasn't sure if he could ever get the guts to do such a thing. He was hesitant on actually giving her the one he'd just given to V-mon. "I learned about them a while ago and thought it'd be an interesting present. You can just ignore the Hikari (ヒカリ) written on it. If I would've known that after all of this, that we wouldn't be able to hang together anymore, I would've made it for you and just put your name on it."

"Daisuke...I-I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything, pal. Just think of it as a memento of our friendship, and remember, we're invincible and will never lose to what we believe in, and we believe in our friendship!" the boy cheered as he shot his fist up into the air.

The small, blue Digimon smiled at his optimistic friend, one thing he admired about him, but felt a bit bad at the same time. "But Daisuke, I don't have anything to give you."

"You already have, V-mon," he assured him with a smile. "You gave me great memories of our adventures together, and I also have my D3 and D-Terminal. Those two things will always remind me of you, and how those helped you to evolve..."  
x x x x  
Sitting at the foot of a nearby lake, was a dark-blue-haired doctor-in-training, Kido Jou, along with a water-mammal Digimon with big paws. Jou sighed as he continued to skip the smooth pebbles that were at the lake's shore.

"It was nice seeing you again, Gomamon," Jou began, keeping his eyes fixated on the water, "even if it _was_ for a short while."

"Yeah, it was. Hopefully, we'll get to see each other in the future."

"I hope so, and I'll try my best to visit more too instead of studying all the time. I'll visit every weekend or whenever we have a school holiday." The boy frowned as a realization swept into mind. "Oh wait, I can't. I still have to go to Juku (Cram School)." He gave off an exasperated sigh. "I just _knew_ that we would always be able to come here. I didn't even think that all ways to the Digital World would end up closing like before since over the years, random gates have opened."

"Trying to become a doctor and studying hard at school takes a lot of work, Jou. It's not your fault that you couldn't come here as much since you had to study. You're in your last year of junior-high-school, and you did say something about studying for some kind of practice university entrance exam while also studying for your high-school entrance exam, whatever those are. Anyway, whenever there was trouble here, neither you nor I could really help out much since the new kids and their partners could handle things better.

"The time we spent in your world was fun, even if we _were_ traveling around it, meeting other Chosen Children, and sending the Digimon who were invading your world, back here."

"Never a moment's rest," Jou chuckled lightly as he skipped another stone.

"Let's shake." Gomamon put out his paw. "Friends forever?"

Jou nodded. "You got it, buddy; friends forever."

"And if it turns out that I don't see you again, I wish you the best of luck on becoming a great doctor."

"Thanks, that means a lot to me. I promise to become the best doctor there is, just to make you proud!"

"You don't have to do that. You've already made me proud of you."

"Huh, what? How?"

"You've finally gained some self-confidence, and that's the best thing ever to me."

Jou smiled and hugged the water mammal...  
x x x x  
In another area, only closer to a temple...

"Just when I get used to coming to the Digital World, and everything is safe, and we can finally have some leisure time, I have to say good-bye!" wailed a skinny with long lavender hair. This girl with the large glasses was Inoue Miyako.

The small, brown-haired boy beside her nodded slowly. "Yes, this is quite upsetting."

A yellow Digimon resembling an armadillo with rough, tough skin looked up at the boy named Hida Iori. "It's hard to believe that I have to say goodbye to you, Iori, d'gya," Armadimon drawled. "We just met, practically."

"Now now," a wise, bird-Digimon started, "let's try not to cry. It was all part of the inevitable. We should have known that we would have to part ways at some point."

"B-b-but Hawkmon," Miyako blubbered. "why did it have to be so soon? I love you Hawkmon, and I hate to see the people I love, leave!"

Iori was quiet for a moment, as he understood exactly how Miyako felt. He loved Armadimon as well, and knew what it was like to lose someone that one loved; maybe it wasn't in the same sense as Miyako, but he could empathize with her. Miyako was upset because she was parting ways with a good friend, but there was always that possibility that she could maybe see him again. The person he lost, he couldn't see again no matter how much he wanted to. He lost his father years ago. He died in the line of duty, and was a highly respected police officer.

"Why don't we just remember the good times we've had together," Iori managed to say after being quiet for so long. It was told to him constantly by his mother and grandfather after his father was killed. "You know, all of the good memories."

"He's right," Hawkmon concurred. "Iori-kun is very wise."

"I'm going to really miss you, Armadimon. Because of you, I learned that people can change, and that everyone deserves a second chance. I also learned how important my friends are."

"You took the longest time to trust Ken after he was redeemed, even when he saved you," Armadimon pointed out, "but I'm glad that you realized that, and didn't continue to hold a grudge against him, d'gya."

"Hmm, because of you Hawkmon, I learned...well, nothing," Miyako said with a lopsided grin, "but I _did_ learn not to act so recklessly and to not overdo things."

Hawkmon bowed like a "gentlemon". "Happy to be of service, Miyako-san."

"Iori, make me a promise."

"Okay, what is it?"

"I want you to try and become the best Kendo person ever, or whatever it's called, d'gya."

"That's a promise I can very well keep. I promise to continue with my Kendo training sessions with my grandfather, and do my very best."

"I also want you to promise me that you'll trust people more."

Iori nodded. "Most definitely, Armadimon."

"Miyako-san, promise me that you'll become that independent, highly-motivated woman of the 21st century. I'm quite sure that you will achieve it since you're a very hard worker, and who knows, maybe one day you'll go to America, and become their first woman President."

"Right, Hawkmon! I'll make sure to work even harder to obtain that goal!" Miyako told him. 'Even though I don't think I could become President of America. I'm not even a citizen.'

Iori looked back, staring at the ancient-looking buildings. "Isn't it strange how we ended up near a temple? It isn't the same one where we discovered you, but it does seem similar."

"That is quite ironic." Hawkmon nodded.

"I was quite surprised to find out that I had my own Digimon Partner who could armor evolve into something so grand, and regular evolve into something great. I shall miss you in all your forms."

"I'll miss Hawkmon in all of his forms too." She smiled at her partner. "Always remain cute and charming, Hawkmon."

Hawkmon felt his feathery face go red and nodded, as both hugged their Digimon...  
x x x x  
Not too far away from Daisuke...

"I don't want to leave you again!" cried Mimi. "Why couldn't those gates just stay open so that we can visit anytime that we like!?"

Crying just as much as her human partner was stood a forlorn Palmon. "I promise this time to give a proper goodbye, Mimi!"

"And try not to suffocate me this time, Koushirou-han," warned a ladybug like Digimon.

The redheaded computer whiz, Izumi Koushirou, laughed shortly, and went quiet. "It looks like this is goodbye again..."

"Koushirou-kun!" The boy jumped at Mimi's sudden outburst. "You're smart, couldn't you figure out a way for us to travel here with your computer?"

"I could try, but I don't think it would work. The Digital World is so strange."

"Yeah, it is," Mimi grumbled in slight agitation.

"Remember that program I used which allowed Tentomon to evolve to Kabuterimon the first time, and then when I tried it again on Patamon, it didn't work, and my entire laptop shut down?" She nodded. "Well, my assumption is that it'll end up being the same exact thing; work when it's actually supposed to." The redhead noticed the looks on Mimi and the Digimon's faces. He gave off a small, bashful laugh. "I'm sorry; I guess I didn't phrase that too well. I guess what I'm _trying_ to say is that it was more than likely destined for this world to be reformatted once again, and for the gates to close to prevent anyone or anything from getting in or out of it. Since there is no more danger, the gates are more than likely going to remain closed." He sighed. "Let's just face it, this is literally goodbye."

"But it may be for good this time! I don't think we'll see them again after this, either!"

"D-don't be silly, Mimi-han," Tentomon spoke up, "of course you'll see us again."

"Yeah, we're sure of it!"

Koushirou and Mimi stood there, their looks quite grim. Just as most of the other kids and as much as Koushirou and Mimi wanted to believe in Tentomon's words, they just couldn't.

Breaking the deafening silence, Tentomon spoke up. "I'm going to miss you, Koushirou-han. I'm glad that you've finally learned to open up and interact more with people. You've grown a lot since I last saw you."

"I guess I have been working on that, and will continue to just for you, as well as for myself, of course."

"Mimi-chan, I'm glad that you're braver than when you were younger."

Mimi nodded and wiped away a newly fallen tear. "I know, and I'm glad that I am too. I still try to look nice, but there are times where you have to fight and be brave, and not worry about your looks. There are things more important than that."

"That's my Mimi!"

"And I also learned that inner beauty is just as important as one's outer beauty."

Palmon blinked, her blank, deep red eyes fixated on Mimi. "I taught you that?"

"Yes, the first time you evolved to Lilymon taught me that."

"Oh Mimi!" Palmon cried as she wrapped her vines around Mimi, who hugged her back tightly. Koushirou followed suit and gave Tentomon a hug.

"You know, I promised myself that I wouldn't cry, but I just can't help it," the girl's voice quivered, as tears streamed down her now rosy cheeks, "you're the best friend I've ever had."

"It's okay to cry, Mimi-han, especially if you're being suffocated and want to be freed."

"Oh, sorry, Tentomon," Koushirou apologized as he let go. "I didn't mean to hug you so tightly."

"That's okay, Koushirou-han," Tentomon gave him a quick hug back, "I'm going to really miss you and that wit of yours..."  
x x x x  
A little ways from Jou and Gomamon, only a bit farther up shore from them...

"It looks like this is goodbye again," a Digimon in a striped pelt softly uttered.

"Yeah," the blonde musician beside him nodded.

"I'm going to miss you, Yamato."

"Yeah," he nodded once again.

"Yeah," Gabumon nodded back.

Both remained silent for a moment, listening to the sounds of Jou skipping stones.

"Gabumon, I want you to have something," Yamato said suddenly. He dug through his pocket, and pulled out a shiny, rectangular object and handed it to his friend.

"But this is your...your-"

"I know, but I want you to have it to remember me by and as a token of our everlasting friendship. I generally always keep it with me. Promise that you'll take good care of it. I've had it since I was kid. "

"But Yamato, this is your harmonica. Your name is even engraved on it."

"I know, but I still want you to have it. Who knows when we'll actually be able to see each other again."

Gabumon eyed the metallic object within his paws. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Yamato gave him a smile. "I wouldn't mind hearing you play something."

Gabumon couldn't help but laugh. "I'm supposed to tell you that."

"Well, let's just try a little role reversal. Let's hear you play."

"Okay, here I go." The Digimon blew into the harmonica, playing whatever seemed natural. Too bad it sounded pretty bad. Yamato laughed at Gabumon's attempt.

"You could use a couple of lessons." Yamato took the harmonica back. "I'll teach you a song before I go, or at least part of it. I've played this for years, and it was one of the first songs I learned when I first got this. It reminds me of all the good times my family and I used to have together before my parents split up. It's one you've always heard me play too, and it's called, _Run With The Wind_..."  
x x x x  
A good ways from Miyako and Iori, sat the once 11-year-old boy-genius, Ichijouji Ken. He was sitting on the ground, crying his eyes out. He didn't want to leave his worm-like Digimon behind. He still felt incredibly guilty for the things he'd done to him in the past.

"Ken-chan?"

"I-I-I don't want to leave you, Wormmon," Ken sobbed. "Look at all the terrible things I've done to you for the past couple of years, like my beating and abusing you! I finally come to my senses, and now I'm going to lose you again."

"But I forgave you, Ken-chan," the worm squeaked.

"That's beside the point!"

Wormmon looked up at him, his eyes a bit watery. "I knew you were kind all along, since you were like that when we first met. That's why you possessed the Crest of Kindness. When you became mean, it wasn't even entirely your fault."

"I-I know. I-I just wish that I would've realized it sooner, so that we could've been better friends. You helped me to see that what I was doing as the Digimon Kaiser was wrong. You stuck by me, even after the way I treated you, like a true friend. After I got rid of that Kaiser persona, you helped me to cope with the death of Osamu-niisan more than what I had in the past, which also made me closer to my parents."

"Ken-chan, you were being controlled. You couldn't help what you were doing to me. It was all a part of BelialVamdemon's plan."

Ken hugged Wormmon tightly, still crying. "Wormmon, I swear that I will never _ever_ forget you! That's a promise I intend on keeping."

Wormmon was now crying too. He couldn't help it. Ken's kindness was just too overwhelming for the green, bug Digimon. "Ken-chan, I won't forget you either, and I'll never forget your kindness."

"Wormmon!" Ken screamed out, his heart aching, and his eyes stinging. 'Why do I keep losing people that I love? I'll never get to see Wormmon again, just like my brother...'  
x x x x  
A little ways from Koushirou and Mimi...

"Well, Hikari-chan, it looks like this is goodbye for our Digimon again," the blonde-haired boy by the name of Takaishi Takeru announced depressingly.

"I know; I'm going to miss them," Yagami Hikari plainly replied.

A cat-like Digimon with yellow, paw-like gloves looked up at the two. "Be brave, and don't cry now."

"Yeah, because if you start crying, then I'll start," Takeru's mammal Digimon partner added, his eyes already saturated with the salty liquid. "Hey, Takeru, remember that promise we made when we had to say goodbye before?"

"I sure do, and I'm sticking with it. Let's promise to see each other again."

Patamon flew into Takeru's arms, the boy hugging him tightly. "Exactly what I was thinking, Takeru. As long as we believe it, it'll happen."

"Tailmon, I have something for you." Hikari pulled out a small, round object. The cat-Digi stared in amazement at the shiny object. "I got this for you a while ago. I was planning on giving this to you for Christmas, but we had so much to do, I never got the chance to.

"I knew how upset you were about losing your Holy Ring, so I got you this one. It should be able to fit on your tail like the old one, but I got a chain to go along with it so that you can just wear it around your neck instead. I know it's not like your regular one, but I hope this one is okay for you."

Tailmon looked up at Hikari teary-eyed. She took the present, and studied it. The ring was gold, and even had her name written on it. She hugged the generous girl. "Oh thank you, Hikari. This is even better than my old ring!"

"You're welcome. I saved up for a good while to get that for you. You should have seen the man at the jewelry store. He gave me a questioning look when I asked him to engrave the name, 'テイルモン"' onto it. He asked me what a Tailmon was, and I just told him that he wouldn't understand."

Tailmon looked at the girl credulously. "You couldn't think of anything, could you?"

"Wow, you read me like a book!"

"Well," she looked down at the ground, "I guess this is goodbye again."

"Yep, until next time," she responded with a perky smile.

"Next time?" both Patamon and Takeru asked in unison.

Hikari nodded and continued to carry on in her perky, bubbly manner.

"Strange, you said that before, and we _did_ end up seeing each other again."

"Hikari-chan, do you know something that we all don't?"

"Takeru-kun, are you sure that you possessed the 'Crest of Hope'? You aren't acting too hopeful right now," she teased.

"But what are you saying? Do you _really_ know something?"

She shrugged nonchalantly in response. "We better get going. We don't have much time left." With that, Hikari skipped off merrily leaving Takeru, Patamon, and Tailmon behind.

"Tailmon, did she really say that before to you? That we would end up seeing you all again?"

"Yeah. She seemed a bit bothered our parting ways, but not as upset as the rest of you all were. I sometimes wonder if her having the Crest of Light once has anything to do with her always sensing things."

"Maybe she's psychic, Takeru."

"You both could be possibly right. Remember when we were kids, when going against the Dark Masters, how my brother left us, after fighting Taichi-san?" They nodded. "Well, remember how at that time she became possessed by something, and a light was surrounding her? She ended up explaining how we were all chosen and how you guys became our partners.

"Taichi-san also mentioned that Hikari-chan knew what a Koromon was when he was taken back to our world after his battle against Etemon. Hikari-chan, at that time, hadn't even met a Digimon directly yet, unless she, at the time, remembered the battle we all saw many years earlier, although, I kind of doubt it since we all forgot it."

"Do you _really_ think she's psychic?" Patamon asked.

The three could only shrug at each other before rushing off to catch up with Hikari...  
x x x x  
Takeru and Hikari joined the others in the clearing they had left, all of which waiting around, quite apathetic on going back home.

"Everyone has finally returned," Gennai noted.

"I guess we're all ready to go," Daisuke mumbled while wiping his eyes.

"Ready or not, you all must go since the Digital World is reformatting itself as we speak."

"Gennai-san, where did all of these television sets come from?" Around them all, were television sets. There was exactly one per child.

"Well, Sora, that is your key to getting home. Each set should send you back to wherever you are supposed to be."

"So you mean I'll end up back in New York?"

Gennai nodded. 'I just hope I set the gates up correctly. I don't want them to end up someplace like Antarctica or Alaska.'

Koushirou inwardly groaned. 'I sense a backache coming on. Every time we end up coming back from the Digital World through one of these gates, I always end up on the bottom of the pile with everyone else crushing me.'

"I'm going to miss all of you. If we can't travel freely to the Digital World anymore, I won't be able to see you all as much, unless I fly in from New York. I know we can always e-mail each other, or talk on the phone, but it's not the same as actually talking _and_ seeing you in person.

"I have no idea when I'll be able to visit again."

Mimi grew quite emotional and started to hug everyone as well as giving them their own personal goodbye. "Sora-san, I'm going to miss you a lot. You're one of my best friends!"

"I'm going to miss you too, Mimi-chan, but we could always visit you in America," Sora suggested, trying her best not to cry any more than what she had. "I could always ask my father into letting me. He travels a lot because of his studies to write his books. If he goes to America, maybe we all could join him."

"That would be so nice, especially since my parents aren't going to be visiting Japan as much anymore since it does get a bit expensive. They also told me that we wouldn't be able to as much since papa has his work."

After Sora, the girl turned to the younger, glasses-wearing girl. Mimi gave her a smile. "Miyako-chan, I'll never forget you either." She gave her a huge hug. "You remind me of myself, pretty much, with your pure heart, hopes, and dreams. Always remain pure in spirit."

"I'll do my best, Mimi-sama. I'm really going to miss you. You're like the older sister I never had. How about you take the place of my _real_ sisters and send _them_ back to New York?" Both Mimi and Miyako laughed. "I know you can't. Visit us soon, Mimi-oneesama."

"Hikari-chan, you've grown and matured so much, even though, when you think about it, you've always been mature for your age." She hugged the shorter, younger girl. "I'm going to miss you just as much as I will the others."

Since the girls were done, Mimi headed over to the guys, starting with Taichi.

"Taichi-san, you were a very good leader to us all," she cried while hugging him. "Sure you goofed up sometimes, but you made up for it with your strength and courage. I'm going to miss you." After they broke the hug, Mimi leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I hope to see you again soon."

Everyone looked at Mimi slightly surprised. They weren't expecting her to do something like that. Taichi's face grew slightly red and was a bit flabbergasted. "Uh...sure thing...Mimi..."

"Daisuke-kun, I know I don't know you too well since we've met only a few times, but you're a very nice kid and you helped us out a lot, along with XV-mon." She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Goodbye."

Daisuke turned red as he nodded politely to her, speechless for once in his life.

"Takeru-kun, you've grown so much that it's almost hard to believe that you were once an eight year old that couldn't really take care of yourself." She kissed him on the cheek. After the kiss, she gave him a quick wink that only he could see and looked over towards Hikari. She then whispered, "Good luck with your personal matters; I know you'll get the nerve to do it someday."

Takeru seemed to be stuck in place. He had never received a kiss from a girl before, even though he was constantly pursued like his brother. Next, Mimi waltzed over to both Ken and Iori.

"I'm sorry; just like with Daisuke-kun, I didn't know you very well. I do know that both of you are okay in my book, especially you, Ichijouji-kun. You helped to save my Palmon, and all of the Yukimibotamon from Golemon."

Mimi gave Ken a quick kiss, like she had the other boys. This caused Ken to turn pink. "Th-thank you, Tachikawa-san," he managed to get out.

She knelt down and gave Iori hug. "Iori-kun, promise me that you'll always remain sweet and adorable."

Iori accepted the hug and the kiss, but didn't really react all that much; not in the fashion the other guys before him had anyway. It was almost as if he were enjoying the attention from Mimi, and looked to be smirking slightly, like he'd been in that type of situation before. "I promise, Mimi-san," he bowed.

"You're always so polite, and that's one thing about you I _do_ hope never changes."

The girl stood, and brushed her skirt off. Next to Ken and Iori stood the "lone-wolf" of the group. "Yamato-san, I'm glad you're pursuing a career in music. You're a great musician as well as a talented one." After the hug and kiss, she smiled playfully at him. "Too bad I never got the chance to sing in your band."

Yamato, though he was trying not to, felt his cheeks going slightly red. This reaction was normal where pretty girls were concerned, though. He pretty much reacted in the same fashion years earlier when he and his fellow Chosens were hitch-hiking to Odaiba, and an older, very pretty, lady stopped and offered him a ride.

"Well, there's always a place for you if you ever want to try out," he managed to say as he regained his cool-guy composure. "You do have a very nice singing voice. Next time you do manage to visit, I'll let you sing in my band as a guest. I'm sure Akira, Yutaka, and Takashi wouldn't mind. You could even do a solo for whatever song you want to sing, or we can do a duet. I should start planning now."

"I'll definitely keep that in mind! I think I'll start planning too," she giggled as she made her way over towards Jou and Koushirou. Both looked incredibly anxious and extremely nervous. Mimi wasn't sure if she wanted to even give them a hug or not, but decided to continue on anyway.

"Jou-senpai, I'm glad that you're still trying to become a doctor, and dedicated as you are, I'm sure you'll do a great job since you're so responsible and reliable. We need doctors like you in the world!" She leaned up and gave him a kiss, and then hugged him tightly.

"Well, um...I...er...thanks for those words, Mimi-kun."

Mimi couldn't help but giggle at him. His reaction was just as she expected it to be. Mimi turned to face a slightly taller redhead, who was sweating profusely, obliviously pulling on the collar of his shirt. She cleared her throat and gave him a big smile. She was going to enjoy the reaction he would give. She had purposely left both Jou and Koushirou last for that very reason. "Koushirou-kun, I actually miss all of that computer talk of yours that I never really understood. It did annoy me sometimes since I didn't really get it, but that's what makes you, you. It also reminds me of all of the good times I had with Palmon when not worrying about evil Digimon."

She gave him a very big hug, and then a kiss on his cheek. "I'll most definitely miss you." She turned away from the boy quickly. "I'll miss you all, especially you cute Digimon."

All of the Digimon did a victory pose; meanwhile, Koushirou's face had gone so red from Mimi's kiss that one couldn't distinguish his face from his hair.

"Everyone, it is time," Gennai informed them. "The gates will be closing within the next two minutes, allowing the Digital World to reformat once again, although it'll be a while before getting to this sector. I'm really sorry that this had to be sprung on you, but the guardians made the decision quite hastily."

"Wait, what does that all reformatting stuff mean anyway?"

"Well, Daisuke, it means that this world is going to be restarting itself and is ridding itself of all the bad things within it."

"Eh?"

"Just think of it like an anti-virus program, Daisuke," Miyako explained. "Anti-virus programs delete and detect viruses and other threats that can harm your computer's hard-drive. I guess you could say the Digital World is doing the same thing."

Gennai nodded. "She is correct, for the most part. You guys could possibly die if you remain here since you're not typical Digital World data. It'll see you all as 'viruses' and you'll end up deleted. My data and the other Digimon here are all recognizable; unfortunately, you all are not."

"We got you, Gennai," Taichi cut across. He didn't want to hear this explanation again.

"You only have a minute now. The gates are open so that you can go through now."

After another quick goodbye and thanks, Mimi went through her gate. When the bright light died down, Mimi found herself back in her room. "I'm back...home...in America." She looked back at the screen and saw Palmon and the other Digimon waving to her. She couldn't help but cry...

The gates that Koushirou, Jou, Miyako, and Iori took caused them to end up back in Koushirou's room.

"Whoa, what a ride," exclaimed Miyako.

Iori seemed to be studying his surroundings. This wasn't where they had started. The room was quite neat and on the desk sat two computers; a desktop and a laptop. "We are in the room of Koushirou-san. It's strange how the separate gates we came through were through his laptop." He pointed to the older boy's Pineapple Laptop.

Koushirou sat down at his desk and looked at it. "He's right, we did end up coming back through here. That _is_ unusual."

"Miyako-kun, Iori-kun…your clothes," the doctor-in-training pointed.

Both looked down and noticed what Jou had. The two still had on their Digital World clothing. Usually when going back and forth to the Digital World, Miyako, Iori, Daisuke, Takeru, and Hikari's clothing would usually change. When exiting, they'd usually end up going back to their normal attire. How this happened, no one could answer, but it was something they all had gotten used to.

Koushirou placed a finger on his chin. "That is absolutely fascinating."

"Everyone, look at the screen," Iori inculcated. On the screen, all of the Digimon and Gennai were waving to them. Miyako started to blubber after seeing Hawkmon and started to go on about how much she loved him and how she would miss him.  
x x x x  
Ken ended up back in his dark, dreary room, incredibly depressed. He really felt as if he had just lost his best friend, or either another family member. He looked back at the screen as tears filled his violet eyes. "W-wormmon," his voice quivered, "you were my best friend..."

Takeru, Daisuke, and Yamato ended up back in Odaiba Elementary's computer lab.

Daisuke, after getting up off the cold floor, began to look around. "I wonder where Hikari-chan is."

"Sora, Taichi, and the others aren't here either," Yamato responded, as he too began to look around. "We all started at the campgrounds of Mikami Keikoku."

Takeru's attention was too focused on something else to worry about the others at the moment. He pointed to the hyper, goggle-headed boy. "Daisuke-kun, look!"

"Huh, what?"

"Your clothes."

"Hey, I'm still wearing my Digital World clothes. I could never wear them outside of the Digital World before. How come they didn't change when going through the gate like they usually do?"

"That's not possible, is it?" Yamato asked.

Unable to answer they all looked back at the computer screen. They saw all of their Digimon waving to them. Gabumon was even attempting to play Yamato's harmonica. He didn't get the chance to learn the song well, but he learned a few notes. He had promised Yamato, after teaching him, that he would learn it well, and practice, so that the next time he saw him, he'd be able to play for him flawlessly.  
x x x x  
Taichi, Hikari, and Sora, ended up back in the Yagami home, in Taichi and Hikari's father's study...

"Hey, this is pop's room," Taichi pointed out while getting up.

"How did we end up here, oniichan?"

"Your guess is as good as mine's."

"We older kids were at Mikami Keikoku when we were first taken to the Digital World," Sora said, quite bewildered, "why are we back here of all places?"

Obliviously, the three looked back at the computer's screen. Their Digimon looked rather depressed as they waved to their partners. Taichi and Sora's faces fell as they tried to hold back tears. Hikari, on the other hand, was smiling cheerfully as she waved back. "I just know we'll see them again. Maybe it'll be a long time from now, but I know we will, and I'm sure it'll be on good terms and not because of something trying to take over again."

The two older teens looked over at the younger girl curiously. Before either could question her, they heard Gennai speak up. "I'm glad that you all ended up back home okay. This was the best that I could do, so you all ended up in different places than you originally started from.

"It was very nice to see you all again, I just wish you all could have stayed longer, but I mustn't defy the Holy Beast Guardians. If the world is to be reformatted to rid itself of all the negative energy here and to keep anything else from getting in, then there's nothing I can do about it.

"Also, as for the items some of you all left behind, they will most definitely be erased after the reformation is complete since it won't be recognized."

V-mon, Gabumon, and Tailmon gasped and began to argue with the dark-haired being. "Don't worry, I can protect the objects and keep them from being deleted. Just hand over anything the kids left you. They did so, and within a blink of an eye, Gennai had formed some kind of blue sphere within his hand. He put the objects in it. "There, it should be fine now. I'll give these back to you after the reformation has been completed."

Their Digimon, once again, began to shout out things to the kids like, "We'll miss you", or, "Good luck", and other things of encouragement. After a moment, the screen faded, the gate permanently closed. That was the last that Mimi and the other kids saw their Digimon partners...

* * *

Not wanting to think anymore of such a depressing ordeal, Mimi decided to go back to reading her book for her English Literature class. It was an extremely boring subject to her, but it was better than sitting around moping about how much she was missing Palmon and the other Digimon. Before reading, she hooked her Digivice back onto the belt of her skirt. No matter what, she kept it with her wherever she went.

The girl went back to her literature book, trying her best to stifle back a yawn, when she heard a strange noise coming from her door. "Is someone there?" she asked cautiously.

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know," the person responded in a heavy, raspy voice.

Mimi stood up, quite alert. "Who's there?!" the girl demanded. The person just laughed. "Papa, is-is that you?" No one answered. "This isn't funny! Who's there!" she cried.

"I know who _you_ are."

Mimi went to her closet and pulled out a baseball bat. Surprisingly, the girl had once played on her school's girls' softball team her first year of high school. She wanted to try at least one sport and to tell Sora about it, but one season was more than enough for her.

"You better identify yourself this _in_ stant!" the girl ordered, her voice a bit shaky.

"Maybe I will...maybe I won't," the person chuckled, finding Mimi's current scared state amusing.

"P-please, tell me who you are!"

"Just answer me this one thing. Do you like..."

"Do I like what?"

"Scary movies?"

" _What_?!"

"Do you like scary movies," he repeated quite casually.

"That _does_ it!" The teen had finally grown quite frustrated an annoyed of this charade. "I am _not_ going to stand for this!"

Slowly, she went towards her door, her bat held firmly in her other hand. She opened the door fast, swinging the bat, but stopped midway, letting out a gasp surprised at the person she'd almost hit...


	2. Night Out!

I hope the first chapter was okay and please remember to leave a comment or feedback to let me know what you all think. The previous chapter was pretty long, and I do apologize for that, but from this chapter forward, it should be relatively shorter by comparison, unless there are a lot of notes at the end. For the previous chapter, I just _really_ wanted to show the farewells between the kids and their partners.

Anyway, for this chapter, we see who was at Mimi's door and from the title, it's probably obvious who that person is. Oh, and a tidbit of information for you all. As we all know, Mimi did make some American Digidestined friends…the main one being Michael. Canonically, the two met during 9/11, but I'm not sure if they formally introduced themselves (along with the others) at that time. This was all mentioned in the Original Story drama that took place in September 2001. Mimi was doing a video message for her friends in Odaiba and explaining how her father's boss was Native American and stuff when the towers were hit. She's disconnected but returns to finish the message and mentioned meeting other kids who had Digimon who were trying to help. She said she couldn't speak to them because of the language barrier, but she showed them her Digivice and they understood.

Now, as always, I do not own any of the characters/places associated with the show, manga, game, etc. Bandai and Toei have that honor and right.

Chapter 02: "ミミ、映画へ行きますか?"  
"Mimi, eiga e ikimasu ka?"  
"Mimi, want to go to a movie?" Mimi & Michael's Night Out!

Mimi stared at the person in surprise. Instead of it being someone who would harm her, she found herself facing the complete opposite. There stood a tall boy with bright, wavy blonde hair, and mesmerizing deep blue eyes wearing a pair of blue jeans, a green t-shirt, and a black jacket.

"Michael!" Mimi screeched at the boy. "You _scared_ me! How did you change your voice the way you did?!"

The boy couldn't help but laugh, while holding his stomach. "I did it because you look cute whenever you're scared," he teased. He held out his left hand. In it was a small black box, which had a few buttons on it and a part to speak through. "It belongs to the drama club. Wallace was playing around with it when at my place this afternoon. He left it there." The device allowed one to change the pitch and tone of one's voice. "I guess you can take care of yourself," he sniggered with a grin. "I was just testing you; I wasn't expecting you to take a bat out on me."

Mimi playfully swung the bat at the boy threateningly. "I could _so_ hurt you right now, Michael!"

"Sorry, sorry," he apologized while stifling his laughter.

"Who let you in? I didn't hear the doorbell ring."

"Your mother did," he explained as he sat down on Mimi's bed. "I noticed that she was dressed up really nicely too, like she's going someplace special."

"Papa has to go to a dinner party thrown by his boss, and my mom's going with him."

"Oh, so that explains it." Michael went through his coat pocket, and pulled out a CD. "I brought this over for you," he said as he tossed it to her. "You should like this; I know how much you like this group and just had it recently imported, thanks to my father of course. Too bad you couldn't get it earlier, like the first day of its release."

"Cool!" the girl exclaimed, reading off the title. "I've wanted to hear this album for a while now! Who cares if it came out just a few weeks ago! I _so_ love the group _dream_!"

"Yeah, I hear that Love Generation is a pretty decent album. It's nice to know that you're still a fan of them, even though they changed up quite a bit."

"Yeah, I do miss Mai-chan, but the music is still nice." She tossed the CD back to Michael. "Pop it in; I want to listen to it."

Beside Mimi's canopy bed, was an exquisite dresser, and atop it, sat Mimi's pink radio, which doubled as a CD player. Michael put the CD in, and both sat back and bopped their heads to the music.

"Oh, I like this song. I heard this one a while ago through satellite when the group performed it on _Hey! Hey! Hey!_ "

"This is a nice song, and I know you sing it well too since you have the single this song is from. You sing better than they do."

"You know that's not true."

"No way. I'm serious. Whenever you go back to Japan, you should join the group and become the new lead singer."

Mimi slightly blushed from the compliment. "You're crazy, but thanks for bringing this over."

"No problem."

Mimi still resided in Manhattan, New York along with both her mother and father, and was in her second year of high school. Along with the music-loving girl, was her good friend Michael, who of which was also a Digidestined.

Even though Mimi wasn't native to the land, she still managed to remain popular amongst her peers, and was still well-rounded. Having lived there for a little over three years, she had gotten a bit used to it. As far as school went, she was in the chorus and participated in her school's cheerleading/pep squad. She'd even taken a Rhythmic Dance class, but didn't stick with it as she found cheerleading more fun.

Another club she was a part of, was the Foreign Language Club, which was pretty interesting to the teen since there was so much to learn dealing with other cultures. The club consisted of those studying lot of different languages; the main ones being French and Spanish.

She was currently learning Spanish (she needed a foreign language requirement). She felt that Spanish would be easier to study as opposed to the other languages her private school offered, and wanted to try and tackle one of the well-known "Romance Languages" in general. The other types of languages that her school offered, aside from English as a second language, which she also had to take, were: Chinese; Japanese; German; Italian.

Michael stood and bowed, as if the perfect gentleman. "Would you care to dance, my dear Mimi-chan?"

"I would love to, good sir," she laughed as Michael took her hand. The two danced along to the music. The song that was currently playing was an upbeat one, which both enjoyed.

After the song finished, both sat down. "Wow, dancing can sure be tiring," Mimi breathed out.

"Something else you're good at," Michael whistled as he lain out on the bed. "I was never all that great a dancer."

"Well then, I'll show you a couple of dance steps, just like I did with my…"

Michael sat up, wondering what had caused her to go instantly quiet. "Mimi, what's wrong?"

"I was just remembering the time I taught Palmon how to dance," she responded quietly.

"I guess you really miss your Palmon." She nodded somberly. "I miss Betamon too. We all had good times together when we weren't fighting against corrupt or bad Digimon."

"It's been almost two years since I've heard from Palmon. If only we could go back and see them. I hate the fact that every time a gate seems to open, it's because the Digital World is having some type of a crisis or it just randomly happens. According to Gennai-san, that was the reason for it closing permanently this time since the Holy Beast Guardians don't want to risk anything evil entering it, or exiting it. What was the point of Oikawa-san making that barrier in the first place?!"

"Maybe it's just an extra precaution so that we don't end up with another situation like with what happened with Mr. Oikawa."

"Why can't we just all have a nice, quiet day there where nothing goes wrong? Why couldn't the guardians permit us to occasionally visit?"

"My guess is that everything is still okay since no gates have opened neither purposely nor randomly, and none of your friends from Japan have mentioned anything about there being any trouble on their end, and everything on our side is okay."

"True," Mimi stated plainly, wanting a more optimistic response out of the boy, or either a solution to their current problem. "After we returned to our world, Koushirou-kun sent me an e-mail telling me about how both he and Miyako-chan tried my idea of opening up another gate to the Digital World through his computer, but it didn't work.

"I'm starting to wonder if we're finally too old to visit the Digital World anymore," the girl frowned. 'I wish I could go back five years and spend time with Palmon all over again without the threat of Devimon, Etemon, Vamdemon, and the Dark Masters. I really _really_ miss her…'

"Hmm, let's find a way to help cheer ourselves up," Michael suggested, realizing how both could use something to get their minds off of their current situation that neither had any control over. "We could go out to a movie, and then have ourselves some dinner, and I'll treat." He looked down at his watch. "It's a little after five now."

"I guess that'd be okay."

"Okay then, hop onto your computer, and let's find ourselves a movie." Mimi nodded and took a seat at her computer desk which was located on the other side of the room. She rarely ever used it, except to send e-mail to her friends, school assignments, and listening to mp3s and CDs while doing her homework. She hardly ever surfed the internet for anything and didn't really have much patience for chat rooms and instant messaging, as she preferred to go out and physically interact with people; besides, *she still wasn't all that great a typist, which was why she preferred doing video messages and video chatting.

It took the two a while, but they decided to catch an 8 o'clock film starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet called Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which was being shown downtown. It was being shown over, despite the fact that it had first been released months earlier. Mimi wasn't big on American films…unless subtitled, but figured that she could use the English listening practice. Michael didn't care for movies by Jim Carrey much but figured that this one wouldn't be too bad, as it wasn't a comedy, therefore, he more than likely wouldn't be acting the part of some annoying, obnoxious character, like say Ace Ventura.

"Well, this one sounds interesting enough, since the two main characters are trying to erase each other from one another's memories," Michael commented dryly. He really wanted to see Resident Evil: Apocalypse, but knew that Mimi didn't care for those types of movies, and this was supposed to be an outing to help cheer her up and to get her mind off of things so it would only be fair to go to one of her choices, as opposed to his at the moment. 'I'll get to see that movie at some point!'

"It sounds a bit sad that two people who started off as a loving couple can actually grow to dislike each other to the point where they want to literally forget one another, but maybe it'll turn out okay in the end."

"I guess. Anyway, we'll probably be back sometime around midnight or close to it; do you think your parents will mind? I know mine won't since they're both out of the country right now."

"They are? Where are they?"

"My old man's filming his latest movie in Switzerland, and my mom decided to tag along for a couple of weeks. She should be back by the end of this month. I thought I told you about it."

The young girl shook her head. "Why did they leave you behind?"

"We're still early in the school year and mom didn't want to take me out of school."

"I guess that makes sense."

"So, what about you?"

"Hmm, I guess my parents wouldn't mind it if I went out tonight. They'll probably still be out when we get back," she smiled mischievously, "and what they don't know, won't hurt them."

"Ahh, very sneaky. I see some of my ways have rubbed off on you."

Mimi giggled and let her folks know what she and Michael were planning. After the "okay" from her mother, she grabbed her jacket – perfect for the cool, crisp, early autumn weather – and headed out the door with Michael by her side…

x x x x

A few hours later, _way_ past midnight, since the two ended up going out for Japanese-style karaoke, the two returned to the big, surprisingly empty, house, discussing the movie in-depth and how it was actually interesting. Michael went on about how he liked the way it ended, leaving one to speculate on what happened to the couple after getting back together, while Mimi didn't care for that aspect. She just wanted them to directly come right out and say whether or not the couple would be happy or not.

Michael was planning on going home, but decided to get Mimi home first and to call his home – which currently consisted of servants – to let them know that he was still at the Tachikawa home, and how he was planning on staying for a while since Mimi's parents hadn't returned from their dinner party. After he was done with the phone, he joined Mimi in her room, who was hanging up her dark-red jacket in her huge, walk-in closet.

"After seeing this movie, I guess I can say that Jim Carrey isn't _too_ bad. I think I prefer him in more serious roles instead of stupid ones where he just repulsed me, like that movie,  Dumb & Dumber! I didn't really get the comedy for that one." Since the girl was still a bit new to the states, American humor was still a bit lost on her, which was why she avoided most American comedies. They weren't as easy to follow like say dramas.

"Well, the title wasn't an understatement," Michael laughed, "that movie _was_ dumb."

"Just so you know I won't be able to hang out with you tomorrow. We're having a Foreign Language Club meeting."

"Oh, is that so?" Michael made himself comfortable on Mimi's stuffed-animal-decorated pink canopy bed.

"Yeah. For this meet, we're going to be talking about Japan. I know I'll really enjoy it, and I can tell everybody else all that I know about Japan since I'm from there, and can also make it very clear that the Chinese and the Japanese _are_ different. I also promised to sing a few Japanese songs that I know and like."

This grabbed Michael's attention greatly as he sat up. "What songs did you choose?"

"I decided to sing a few songs by one of my favorite artists, AiM."

"AiM…AiM…is she the one who used to go by the name, Maeda Ai?"

"Yeah. She only started going by the stage name AiM in about the year 2000 so that people wouldn't confuse her with another singer by the same name. The other one is much younger than AiM, but there was still a bit of confusion."

"Well, in that case, I know who you're talking about. AiM is a very nice singer."

"The songs I plan on singing tomorrow are: _I wish..._ ; _Itsumo Itsu demo_ ; _Ashita wa Atashi no Kaze ga Fuku_ ; _Itsu Demo Aeru Kara_ ; _Find Out_ ; _On the Hill~Kaze wo Kanjite~_ ; _Like a Candle_ ; _Super Girl_. I really like them all, and have many more, but narrowed it down to those. I may have to narrow it down a bit more.

"Everyone really wanted me to sing to them since they like my voice, so they said anyway. It's like I'm going to practically give a mini-concert for the entire club tomorrow afternoon and we're going to have the meeting in the auditorium, which is even better."

"Well, you do have a pretty singing voice, and *you even sound a bit similar to AiM."

"No way," Mimi shook her head, "I'll never sound as nice as her."

"Mimi, you're good. I've heard her songs, and I've heard you sing plenty of songs in Japanese since you like karaoke. We just went out tonight for karaoke. You sound great; maybe even _better_ than her."

"Michael," the girl giggled, her cheeks going slightly pink.

"You know I don't lie," he winked. "I was just wondering, though…what are you going to use for music? I doubt that you could get any of the strings or band members to play those songs since it'll take more than one night to learn the music."

"I'm taking my karaoke machine with me along with a CD that has all of the karaoke versions of the songs with the background vocals. I'll just sing to that."

"All of the songs you mentioned have karaoke versions of them?"

"Well, no, not exactly. _Find Out_ , _Like a Candle_ , and _On the Hill~Kaze wo Kanjite~_ don't, but I don't have to worry about that."

"But how are you going to sing to the karaoke of a song if the karaoke doesn't exist?"

"Koushirou-kun and Miyako-chan," she answered briskly.

"What about them?"

"A while ago, when I promised this, I really wanted to use those particular songs. I asked them if they knew of a way for me to, and Koushirou told me that he could easily filter out the vocals using some audio-editing program. Both he and Miyako-chan work on the sound for the **Teen-Age Wolves** , the band of Yamato-san, so they have access to the equipment used down in the studio."

"So they just filtered out the main vocals?"

"Yep."

"But wouldn't that sound a bit bad quality wise?"

"I think so, normally; I don't know much about that type of stuff, but they did do a terrific job on it. You'd never guess that these songs didn't have an original karaoke. They sent the songs back to me through e-mail in mp3 format, and I burned them onto a blank CD as audio, along with the other songs I mentioned. I just have to decide on the order I want to sing them in."

"Amazing, I never knew that you could do that type of thing."

"Maybe I should bring in some props or do something to create a Japanese type atmosphere. Michael, I really wish you would join. You're very good with Japanese, and you can speak Spanish fluently."

"If I didn't have my Karate sessions, I would. I'm already up to my second brown belt, and I also have a Swimming Club meeting. Have to prepare for the spring. It's kind of strange, though, how my Karate and your Foreign Language club seem to fall on the same days at times."

"I forgot all about your Karate." She rested her hand on her hip. "The club is looking for more multilingual students, and you'd be the perfect candidate since you know about three languages fluently: English, Spanish, and Japanese."

"I know a bit of Italian and French too, but not too much since I didn't live in Italy or France too long."

"Wait, can't you speak some Mandarin Chinese too?"

"Yeah, a little bit, but reading is difficult for me, just like with Japanese. The only reason I ended up learning anything at all was because of my father. He filmed a lot of his movies in China and we lived in Beijing, which is how I picked up on Mandarin Chinese.

"I only know the Spanish because of living here in New York and had Spanish-speaking friends. I just picked up on it. I can get by with it, but don't ask me to write anything.

"As for the Japanese, I just found the culture interesting when I was very young. In our old neighborhood, we had a lot of Japanese-Americans living there, and had friends who were. Too bad we ended up moving, and I had no one to speak it with, until you came along.

"My English teacher asked if I would like to earn extra credit, and you know I jumped at the chance to. She explained the situation of a new Japanese student transferring to our school who didn't know much English. I was surprised to see that it was you. It was our second time meeting.

"I'm glad I was able to help. You caught on very quickly. The Spanish I've been speaking since I was really little, and my mother speaks it, so I picked up on it from her too."

"I never felt that I caught on all that fast, but you were very patient with me," Mimi smiled dreamily. "Pienso que aprender español es _mucho_ mas facil que ingles."

"Hey, you've been practicing, even though that's pretty much book Spanish," Michael stated with an approving smile. "Do you really think it's easier to learn Spanish than it is to learn English?"

"Sí, tambien, francés es mucho mas dificil que aprender que español."

"So you think French is harder to learn than Spanish too?"

"Sí," Mimi gave Michael a sly look, "pero japonés es _mucho_ mejor."

"Oh that's just cheating, saying Japanese is easier than English," Michael laughed. "Well, good luck to you for tomorrow. Sorry I won't be there."

"That's okay, I don't mind, but I can give you a demonstration right here. I should get in some last minute practice anyway. Which song do you want me to try to sing first?"

"Hmm, how about _Itsumo Itsu demo_?"

"Good choice; I really need to practice with that one a bit since there are no background vocals. _I wish..._ is another…"

"Mimi?"

"I' m sorry," the girl apologized while forcing on a smile. "I just had another memory. I was thinking about the time I had to sing to awaken Tonosama Gekomon (Shogun Gekomon), and the song I performed for him was _I wish..._ "

"Seems like most everything can remind you or link you to the Digital World."

"Yeah, seems so. Even the computer does."

"The computer?"

"It reminds me of going to the Digital World, and of Koushirou-kun. He's definitely a computer otaku, but during our adventures in the Digital World, he figured out the majority of things while there, and stuff concerning our Digimon through his laptop. He really came through for all of us. It also reminds me of how we traveled to and from there when the newer kids were chosen, opening up a gate through the computer."

"Maybe, but I just get this feeling that there's more to this than just missing Palmon. I've noticed how you've been in general lately. Is there something else going on?"

"Well..y-yeah, there is…kind of. I'm a bit homesick right now..."

"I figured it was something, since lately, you've been talking about Tokyo and your friends there non-stop."

"I don't hate it here; I just really wish I were back in Odaiba right now."

"You don't mind if I ask why, do you?"

"No, not at all."

"I'm all ears."

"The problem is with my friend, Sora-san. She's having an issue involving a boy right now, and I just wish I were there to give her some moral support, like a good friend."

Michael couldn't help but smirk. "Yeah, you girls need to stick together. Girl Power!"

" _Mi_ chael, I'm serious!"

"So-so, what type of trouble is it? Let's see if I can give some advice from a guy's point of view."

"I hope I don't bore you too badly with this drama stuff, but here it goes. Sora-san is dating a guy, but she's doing it in secret. She's been dating him for almost a month now. She has a guy friend, and doesn't want him to know about it because she has this strange feeling that his feelings towards her aren't platonic. To make things worse, her 'secret boyfriend', is also good friends with her guy friend, but he's getting frustrated because Sora-san is still insisting on keeping their relationship secret."

"Do I know these guys?"

"You know _of_ them, but that's not important right now. What do you suggest that they do? I told her that the two of them should tell their friend. It's better to hear it from them than from somebody else. I'm surprised they managed to keep it secret for so long."

"I was going to say something like that. It's tough keeping something like that a secret for long. I'm sure that their friend would find out eventually, and it'd probably make him feel worse. Is Sora _really_ good friends with this guy?"

"Yes, _best_ friends. He's her best guy friend."

"Then she should go on and tell him or just make it obvious that she's with the other guy. It'll mess up their relationship if she doesn't. Best friends shouldn't keep secrets from each other, especially over something so trivial. Also, if he values his friendship with her, he'll be happy for Sora, not jealous."

"I hope she does just that, and if she doesn't tell him, I hope her new boyfriend tells him."

"So it's a real love triangle, eh?"

"Well, maybe it is, a little, even though the guys involved don't know how the other feels…"

Wanting to get off of the topic, she went over to the computer and picked up a CD labeled, "FLC Songs 1". "I'm going to practice now with my karaoke machine. Could you set it up for me, please?"

"Yeah, alright." Michael got up from his comfortable spot and pulled the karaoke machine out of Mimi's closet.

Mimi was looking through her dresser drawer for the other CD she was planning on using for the club meet. "Now where did I put that thing," she muttered.

While both teens were occupied with their tasks, Mimi's radio began to play.

"Michael," Mimi looked back, "did you turn my radio on?"

Michael looked up from his spot and shook his head as Mimi joined him. "No, I was about to ask you if it had an automatic timer or something for it to come on."

"No, I don't use the alarm on it."

A faint, white glow seemed to illuminate the pink radio as it crackled and sparked. There was also an inexplicable wind filling the room, which caused the young girl to instinctively grab hold of Michael's arm. It was like a hurricane was specifically targeting her room.

"Michael, what's happening!" Mimi shouted over the whistling winds.

"I don't know, but let's get out of here!"

The two ran towards the door, which had been slammed shut due to the wind. Michael tugged at the door, pulling with all his might. "Hurry, Michael!" Mimi told him urgently, as she moved some of her long hair from out of her face.

"The door…it's stuck! It won't open!"

Before either one could react, a beam of bright white light shot out from the radio, hitting the both of them. Mimi and Michael screamed as they felt themselves being pulled into the light. Not wanting to be separated by this abnormal occurrence, both spontaneously clasped hands.

"Michael!"

"Mimi, hold on! Don't let go!"

The two now found themselves in a strange, tornado like structure, being tossed around as if trapped in a waterless washer.

"I...can't...hold...on..." Michael grunted, feeling Mimi's hand slipping from his.

Both screamed as they were forced apart, flying in opposite directions.

"Mimi!"

"Michael, no!"

Author's Notes

Note 1: Mimi's preference of doing videos over typing is canon as it was mentioned by her in the Original Story drama. There she mentioned she wasn't a good typist and not very good with computers.  
x x x  
Note 2: I just thought I'd include a note here to explain what each song is. For the record, all of these songs were chosen at random.

I wish…: This is the first Digimon Adventure ending theme song. For the actual sequence, it shows all of the kids (minus Hikari and Tailmon) and their Digimon up to their adult (champion) levels. At that particular time, she was still going under the name, "Maeda Ai". This is also the original song Mimi had to sing to awaken Tonosama Gekomon (Shogun Gekomon) in the episode, Princess Karaoke.

Itsumo Itsu demo: This is the second Digimon Adventure 02 ending and at the time, she was going by "AiM".

Ashita wa Atashi no Kaze ga Fuku: This is the first Digimon Adventure 02 ending theme, and she was going by "AiM".

Itsu Demo Aeru Kara: This song is by Maeda Ai, and is Mimi's Digimon Adventure character theme. It can be found on the I wish… single (as well as a few albums). Whenever doing a character theme, AiM is pretty much always credited through her real name.

Find Out: This is the b-side track of the Stand By Me~Hito Natsu no Bouken~ single (the special one that was released). A-side track, _Stand By Me~Hito Natsu no Bouken~_ , was movie 3's ending theme song. This, too, was performed by "AiM".

On the Hill~Kaze wo Kanjite~: This is performed by Maeda Ai. It is the b-side track of her Keep On single. _Keep On_ is the second Digimon Adventure ending theme.

Like a Candle: This song is the only "non-anime" related song mentioned so far. This is the theme song for the PSX game, Meimai Kishidan. It's a very pretty song, and I highly recommend it. For this, she was still going as "Maeda Ai". As a matter of fact, this single was released at the same time Keep On was (October 8, 1999; two days after my b-day. ^_^)

Super Girl: This is a nice, upbeat song. It's performed by Maeda Ai, and it's Mimi's Digimon Adventure 02 character theme.  
x x x  
Note 3: Michael's statement, "...you even sound a bit similar to AiM", is pretty much a true one. AiM (Maeda Ai) is Mimi's seiyuu (voice actress), which was changed for Tri, and for practically any Digimon-related fic you may read by me, and Mimi's "singing" is pointed out, I will more than likely _always_ go on to mention AiM, or have another character allude to the fact that Mimi sounds like her.

Fic Chapter Changes

I added in Mimi taking English as a second language classes and also went on to mention that she had trouble understanding American humor and that it's difficult to follow sometimes. Realistically, I could see this being an issue with most. If you grow up in a certain culture, what one culture finds amusing (and I mean this in a general sense), may be lost on those who grew up outside of it.

I added in that along with going to a movie and having a late meal, that they'd also gone out for karaoke. Japanese-style karaoke boxes do exist in New York. Two of them come to mind for me. At the time I wrote this originally, I didn't know and never did mention what actually kept them out so late.

I changed a bit about how Michael and Mimi met and how it was mentioned that their meeting in school was their second, and formal time, seeing one another as opposed to their first.

In the original version of this fic, I had Michael talking more about Super Girl's song that always sounded a bit suggestive. It felt unnecessary to keep that in.

I added in more regarding Sora's boy problem and changed the length of the relationship from two weeks to a month. I also added in that the boyfriend is starting to grow frustrated over their secret dating situation.


	3. Late Afternoon Project

Here is the next chapter for you, and I hope you all are still around. As a warning, there's going to be quite a few chapters before it shows the main plot. I have to have all the kids abducted before I can remotely get into the cause. Even though it's still a bit early, I'm sure you'll eventually notice a pattern with these chapters and the way the kids are being abducted. With the exception of about four (I'm counting Mimi here, since Michael isn't a Japanese Chosen Child, as he's an American Digidestined), all the kids are pretty much being abducted in pairs. I'm pretty much doing this to avoid the story being dragged out longer than it has to be, as it's grown a bit long already.

For this chapter, it should be obvious which two are about to get abducted next from the title. So, yeah, that's about it really.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the show, manga, game, etc. Toei and Bandai have that honor.

Chapter 03: "京くんのコンピュターゲームのデジモンです!"  
"Miyako-kun no KONPYUTAA GEEMU no Dejimon desu!"  
"Miyako's Digimon Computer Game!" Koushirou & Miyako's Late Afternoon Project!

Over in Odaiba, Tokyo at Odaiba Junior High, sat two computer-savvy students in the computer lab. Both were working on a project that made the now 14-year-old Inoue Miyako a bit frustrated. Even though it had been a couple of years, there really hadn't been too much of a change with her, aside from her being slightly more humble, although she had grown prettier. She even seemed to have gained a few admirers in her class and out of it.

One of her admirers was much too shy to share his feelings and no one knew of it, but he rarely hanged around her nowadays and admired her from afar. The other admirer liked her quite a bit, but seemed less conspicuous and less obvious about it; although, one person actually knew about it, but promised to keep it secret. The ironic thing of the matter was that Miyako didn't have an inkling suspicion at all over these two guys in particular who had an attraction towards her.

As of the moment, no one else was near the computer lab, and the only people around were those participating in after-school activities and teachers. The area in which they were in was pretty much isolated, but every once in a while, someone would pass by. The reason for the isolation was due the fact that the teacher in charge of the Computer Club was allowing the two to use it, especially since both had special positions within the club and were given the permission to. There was no meeting that afternoon, and the lab would usually be locked up after a while.

"Why in the _world_ did I promise something like this," Miyako groaned in extreme exasperation. "This is my last day to work on this since I'll be too busy tomorrow!"

"Don't worry; I'm here to help you."

"You don't have to help me if you don't want to. This is my problem."

"Nah, I don't mind helping," the redhead assured her sincerely. "You looked a bit overworked when I was walking by, so of course I would want to help."

"I just _had_ to say I'd program my own RPG and present it by Monday!" Miyako laid her head down on the desk and snorted. "I'm nowhere near finished with this! It has too many stupid glitches, and I have no idea _why_! There always seems to be a different problem every day!"

Miyako was now in her second year at Odaiba Junior High, still an ace where computers and computer hardware were concerned, and was pretty much the unofficial second-in-command of the Computer Club. Koushirou was also still her best computer buddy.

"Who knows why you keep having trouble," Miyako lifted up her head, "but I am here to help you, Miyako-kun. I also feel that this RPG that you are currently programming is pretty creative. I don't know of the details yet, but I'm sure that it'll be quite good."

"No way, this thing is lousy."

The Odaiba Junior High Computer Club President, Izumi Koushirou, was now a semi-tall 15 year old in his third, and final, year. His once short, red hair had grown out a bit, but he always managed to keep it nice and neat. He was well-respected by both faculty and students, especially the female students lately, much to those who knew about it's surprise. Koushirou was extremely oblivious to the fact that some of the girls of his class were attracted to him now since he had grown older and taller, and was even considered "handsome" to them. The girls of his class would give him positive attention; Koushirou just thought they were being nice. Whenever this would occur, or she'd hear about something like that, Miyako would sigh over Koushirou's ignorance of female human nature or flirting.

Ever since his first year, Koushirou has helped to run the club due to his extensive knowledge and became the President once entering his final year. Miyako, like Koushirou, helped to run the club and this year she became the unofficial second-in-command due to Koushirou's asking her. In this regard, Miyako was a bit shy as she felt odd having such a position as she was an underclassman.

Koushirou didn't know it, but Miyako and the other computer club members were planning on throwing him a surprise party since it was going to be his last year at Odaiba Junior High as their well-respected club president. They hadn't decided on a time or place as of yet, but it had to be before their finals and had to make sure it wouldn't interfere with Koushirou, and the other third-year students' high-school entrance exams. Miyako wasn't in charge of preparations; surprisingly, another girl was, one that Miyako truly didn't care for, and vice-versa for this particular girl towards her.

"I think it was very creative of you to use our Digimon as characters," Koushirou complimented in an attempt to cheer the younger girl up.

"Well, I really do miss Hawkmon and the others and it's bothersome that after all this time, we haven't had _any_ contact with them…not even Gennai-san has been easy to contact, so I decided to use a Digimon theme to help remember them. I'm glad that you had all of that old Digimon information stored on your laptop, and those old digital photos that Hikari-chan had of some Digimon. I didn't think I could actually use those to create sprites," she explained, quite nervously. She was still a bit self-conscious over presenting her RPG to the club. 'I hope the other members won't think of this as stupid or too out there.

'It's strange how, like before, only we Chosen Children from all over the world remember what happened and our families.'

"The RPG maker programs are more advanced now, so that's the main reason why, Miyako-kun. You _do_ know that you don't have to go all out with this. A typical, computer game will do."

"No, it _has_ to be the best! I have to prove to everyone that I _do_ know about computer programs, and software, just like I do hardware! My reputation is on the line!" the lavender-haired girl said with determination, her right fist bawled. "I also must prove myself to that Meihui Chiu!"

"Oh yeah, Meihui-san. She's been here as long as I have. When she first attended this school, she'd moved here from China. She used to help out a lot, now that I think about it, before you started attending here."

"She keeps saying that I'll make a terrible second-in-command, even though I already had experience. I was president of the computer club at Odaiba Elementary after you graduated from there."

"I wouldn't worry too much about her. You know a lot more than she does, and I would know. I have worked with her before, mainly since she's so active in the club, but…she _is_ really good at programming."

Miyako arched an eyebrow up at Koushirou. "You talk as if you don't know her, or you just met her. You said yourself she's been in your class since you started going to this school."

Koushirou could only shrug. "I guess she's okay, but we don't really seem to talk much, unless it's during one of our meetings, or during class. She's very nice and friendly, though."

" _Nice and friendly my foot_ ," Miyako scoffed under her breath while crossing her arms.

"She seems to really respect me, and actually calls me, 'Izumi-sama', and that's surprising to hear from someone that's the same age as you," he laughed. "She even gives me some tasty chocolates! I wonder what store she buys those from. I suppose I could speak with her more often than what I do, especially since she's nice enough to give me chocolates every year. No other girls really give me any. I would love to brush up on my Cantonese, especially after my incident in Hong Kong two years ago when I was there with Hikari-san. My Chinese speaking skills were horrid, and my English was even worse! I should ask her to teach me sometime, if it's okay with her. I shall call her later. I have her number in my annual."

Miyako, who had pretty much began to ignore the older boy since he was going on about the "annoying Meihui" (which is what she, herself, would call her), went back to her game. She was determined to finish it.

" _Ugh_! I should have finished this by now but I just can't figure out why it isn't working the way it's supposed to. It seems that most of these glitches have the most trouble with sound bytes. In the beginning, the song _Target~Akai Shougeki~_ is supposed to play, but you can't hear it or any _other_ music or sound effects for that matter."

Koushirou stared at the computer code on the screen. "I'm not as knowledgeable as you are when it comes to game code, but I think I see where your mistake is. You typed in a wrong command here, and in this spot here, you have an extra space." He looked over the other data that Miyako had input. "Hmm, as a matter of fact, Miyako-kun, it seems that quite a bit of these commands are wrong." The boy sighed in spite of himself, realizing that it would take a long while before they could fix them all. 'We're going to be here awhile…'

Miyako did as Koushirou instructed, as well as a couple of more suggestions, which ended up taking the two another hour or so. They were running the game for the fourth time, hoping that there were no errors this time. Miyako held her hands together tightly and held her breath.

After a few seconds, she heard the midi-like music. "Bingo! Bingo! Bingo! It works, it works! It took forever, but it finally works!" The girl was so happy that she gave Koushirou a big hug. "Thank you so much for your help!"

"Y-you're wel-welcome."

Miyako blushed slightly and let him go. "I'm sorry, I'm just really glad that this works."

"R-really, that's okay," Koushirou assured her, trying to rid himself of the butterflies that currently fluttered in his stomach. "I know what it's like to spend your time working on something and then finally figuring it out. It's an exhilarating feeling knowing that you managed to solve the problem."

"After all of this work, we should go down to my family's convenient store, and grab ourselves something to eat. I'm starved. Who knows, maybe we can go down to the gym. I'm sure they won't mind one extra person. I just hope they're still there."

"I'm getting a bit hungry myself, but I wouldn't want to impose. They invited you, not me."

"I guess I should have mentioned that I was working with you, but I'm sure they still wouldn't mind, Izumi-senpai. You're their friend too!"

"No, that's okay. I'll just pick up something on the way home."

"No way! I'm going to call Ken-kun right now to see if he and the others are still there."

Before Koushirou could protest any further, the girl had sped-dialed Ken's number. 'It's pretty late; I would hate to disappoint him,' she then quickly added, 'and the others too…' After about a half a minute, she hanged up. "I guess he isn't around. I didn't even get his Wormmon voice mail."

"Maybe Ichijouji-kun left for the day, and just forgot to turn his phone back on."

"Wait, why don't we check-"

"Don't worry about it," Koushirou interrupted.

"Huh? What?"

Koushirou pointed to the computer's clock. It read, 17:53 (5:53). "Look at the time. They have to be gone by now. We had permission to stay back here in the lab, even though our club wasn't meeting today; I doubt they had permission to stay back in the gym. Makes me wonder if they had the permission at all since, usually, such activity is forbidden there."

Miyako felt pretty bad for not joining Ken, even though the others were there as well. Why didn't she feel as bad for them? "I guess you're right."

"I'm sure they'll have another get together soon. Maybe you should just organize one yourself to make up for missing this one."

"That's a great idea, Izumi-senpai!" she smiled. 'I just hope Ken-kun is actually around to attend it, or isn't too busy; same with Daisuke.'

"See, everything will be fine."

"Could you come along too?"

"I'm not sure. If I'm not busy with anything else, I will."

"Please? We'll have snacks and-"

"Okay, you've convinced me!"

"That's because food is involved," Miyako laughed.

"Whatever gave you that impression?" Miyako laughed again at the boy's mock innocence. "You know, maybe only you all should go, and invite Iori-kun along. I'm sure he'd enjoy hanging around with you all since you rarely see him much due to his still being in elementary school."

"That's true. Both Takeru-kun and I live in the same building as he does, and we still don't make much of an effort to hang around with him more. We're always busy. Come to think of it, I rarely see Takeru-kun anymore either outside of school."

"Seems that you all will have to work around your busying schedules, but it'll probably work out in the end. Now, would you mind if I played your game?"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, and as president of Odaiba Junior High's Computer Club, I must see if this passes my test, which I'm sure it will since you were the one who programmed it."

Miyako's face went slightly red from the compliment, and smiled at her older, redheaded companion. "S-sure, go ahead, but do you really think it'll pass your test?"

"I'm positive that it will. You're very good with computers, and you've been doing excellently with programming lately too."

"Thanks," she scratched her nose, "but I didn't even know there _was_ a test."

"Well, actually, there isn't. I just wanted to play before everyone else."

Miyako blinked with a sweat drop, as she watched Koushirou position himself in front of the screen. When he was situated, she began to explain the game to him. "Anyway, since my time was limited, there are only four main characters. I based them on you, Mimi-oneesama, Iori, and me. The names of the characters I chose at random. They are: Miya, Kouji, Mi, and Cody."

"Mimi-san…" Koushirou looked up at the wall clock. "It should be close to five in the morning there. I wonder how her performance will go over."

"She's supposed to sing songs for her class or something, right?"

He nodded. "It took me a good while, but I finally managed to get the songs she requested a karaoke of just right."

"Why didn't you just wait for me to help you?"

"I knew how busy you were with other things, so I just did it all on my own."

"But you filtered three songs! We usually work on things like that together."

"I know, but I really didn't mind."

" _You still could've asked me to help_ ," she muttered under her breath, slightly annoyed over Koushirou's eagerness to work alone.

"I wonder how she's doing. It's been a little over a year since her last visit to Japan."

"She's doing fine as far as I know. She does send us e-mail and messages a lot, but I would like to see her.."

"I suppose you're right. So, let's get back to this game of yours."

"Right. Now, you start off with my character, and for her, either the theme _Crash de Bingo_ or the song, _Dancin' on the Sky_ will play. It'll vary; I forgot which I programmed it for.

"You're going to explore around, and end up in the Digital World. The background music theme during that should be _Butter-Fly_. After that, you should end up facing a Tyranomon who tries to attack you. It's not set up for you to fight him, and the AI takes over, so your only option will be to run and the Tyranomon will chase you. Suddenly, a Tentomon from out of nowhere will attack the Tyranomon. A boy, who is partnered with this Digimon, will appear and get Miya to safety."

"I'm going to assume that since you mentioned the boy has a Tentomon, that that's the character based on me."

"Bingo!"

"Prodigious!"

"Let's see, along with this boy and his Digimon, is a Digimon called Hawkmon. The bgm theme for that should play for the character based on you when they first meet and talk, is _Digital Scratch_. The character finds out that she is in a place called the 'Digital World' and that the Digimon named Hawkmon is her Digimon partner.

"Your character explains all of this to her, and also explains how there is an evil force taking over the Digital World, changing once good Digimon into bad ones, and that he was chosen to find three other children who were brought there to stop it. He also explains that Miya was one of the three he was in search of.

"From there, the two of you are going to look for the remaining two people to help fight against whatever's causing all the problems. It should go by fast, though, and watch where you explore or you'll run into a Digimon enemy, meaning you'll have to fight them off in order to get them back to their normal selves again. You use both Tentomon and Hawkmon to battle until you find the other two.

"During the early battle sequences, your character and Tentomon's character, explains the game's mechanics. Also, the theme should be _Brave Heart_ during battles. I also decided to stick with the old Black Gear story."

Koushirou's eyes seemed to light up. "This sounds very interesting! Let's start this game up. It will be like all of us older kids' adventure in the Digital World, and I bet you used Devimon as the final boss since you decided to use the Black Gear story that I, and all the other older Chosens, dealt with."

Miyako did a victory pose for the redhead. "Bingo! During his battle, the bgm to play should be _Dark Wing_ and the song I chose for the ending is _Keep On_. Oh, for this, the Digimon can only evolve to their adult (champion) levels, but you have to determine the key on making them evolve, though."

"Wow, I better get started then…"  
x x x x  
Walking down the empty school corridors was a girl in the typical dark green Odaiba Junior High fuku. She was petite in size, had long, shiny jet-black hair, rosy dimpled cheeks, and a very cute smile that most everyone loved. This popular, 15-year-old girl was none other than Meihui Chiu, who was planning on doing some work on a certain computer project, or as others would consider it, "sabotage".

'I wonder if Inoue is still here. I didn't see her leave.' A smirk came to the girl's light face, as another thought popped into mind. 'I bet she's still having trouble with that computer game of hers and is putting in overtime to make sure it's right for Monday. I was only helping her along with it all week without her knowledge.' She inwardly laughed. 'It's _so_ easy to do. She shouldn't save all of her information on the computer she uses during our meetings on the school's network and hacking into her password protected data was _so_ easy to do. She was just asking for trouble. She should've backed it up.

'Thinking about it, though, I probably didn't have to do much of anything. Honestly, what _are_ Digimon? I doubt anyone will take something like that seriously, and I'm sure that our president will surely think she's crazy.' Her smile grew wider as she began to twirl down the hall. 'After she makes a fool of herself Monday, they'll all realize how incompetent she truly is, and how _I_ deserve to be working by our president's side! I'll be second-in-command and then I'll get closer to,' hearts formed in her dark eyes, and gave off a dreamy sigh, 'Izumi-sama, just like how it was before that _brat_ started attending this school!'

"Mei-chan!"

"Wait up, Meihui-chan!"

The girl's thoughts of Koushirou were broken, as she turned towards the two who had called her. "Hi there, *Jen-chan, *Joya-chan."

The girl named Joya, with the bright pink hair up in two pigtails which came down to her shoulders, pointed towards the wall clock. "I'm surprised you're still here. Did the Computer Club just let out? There was a meet this afternoon, right?"

"No, I just forgot something," she lied. After realizing what the girl had said, she narrowed her eyes at her. "What do you _mean_ there was a computer club meeting today?"

"Jen-chan and I just saw Izumi-kun in the computer lab with Inoue-san hours ago when we were on our way to our Volleyball Club meeting. It ran late today. I figured that the two were early since they do practically run it. We just walked past the computer lab again, and both were still there."

Jen nodded, her long aqua-green pony-tail swishing. "Maybe they're staying back since they _are_ both running it, but thinking about it, I don't remember Mei-chan ever staying back this late helping out Izumi-kun before Inoue-san joined."

Trying her best to control her jealousy over Koushirou and Miyako's being alone, Meihui chose to ignore the latter of Jen's statement. "I guess it slipped my mind that we were having a meeting today," she stated casually, with extreme difficulty. 'I waited around this long for nothing? I just knew she'd be gone by now. I can't log my way in if she's using her student account.'

"It seems like it's over, though," Jen continued on, "no one else was there."

"Meihui-chan, if you weren't at the meeting, what have you been doing for the past couple of hours?"

The young girl knew that she couldn't tell them that she'd left, and had come back just recently. She wasn't even expecting to be seen, given the time, and was going to do her duty and leave without being spotted. "Oh, nothing much at all…just, hanging around and like I said, I forgot something," she timidly laughed. "Maybe I should go check up on those two," she twitched slightly, obliviously clenching her small fists together at her side.

"Mei-chan," Jen began, "you look upset."

"She's right, you do. You're our best friend; you can tell us what's wrong."

"I'm fine," she grumbled. "What makes you think that I'm mad or upset just because Inoue is working with Izumi-sama?"

"You sound jealous."

"I am _not_ jealous, Jen-chan!" Meihui shouted at the top of her lungs. The girl blushed ferociously as her voice echoed throughout the empty hallway.

"He's known Inoue-san for a long time, which is probably why he hangs around with her a lot," Jen earnestly pointed out. "They don't have the same classes, since he's in a higher year than her, and both share the computer club, which is their main time to hang around with one another while in school.

"Anyway, Inoue-san is okay. She's a very nice girl to hang around with, and is a whiz at math. She's helped me plenty of times."

"I like her too." Joya looked down at her watch. "It's pretty late, we should get going. My older sister was going to come by today and pick us both up so that we wouldn't have to walk."

"Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot about that. You called her a while ago. She should be here by now. Hey, Mei-chan, want to come with us? We could go out and do something."

"No, that's okay," she politely declined, "I'll walk home, as I have a couple of things I have to finish up here. I'm also still planning for the surprise party that the club is throwing for Izumi-sama."

"Well, if you're busy, I guess Jen-chan and I will get going."

'I _could_ finish planning out that party, or maybe Izumi-sama will accompany me home, and then I'll invite him in and offer him tea and snacks, and then he'll accept it, and then he'll go on to tell me how much he loves me, and then we'll both lean in for a nice, long well-deserved, extremely passionate, deep, k-'

"Earth to Mei-chan," Jen waved her hand in front of her face, "are you there?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," she quickly answered, her face a bit flushed from the fantasy. "I was just, ugh, thinking about something."

"Whatever," Jen yawned. "Anyway, when walking by, we overheard Koushirou-kun talking and he mentioned something about you. He said he was going to ask you something."

"Oh, okay," she answered plainly. After what was said had sunk in, the girl's eyes lit up like stars as she shrieked out happily with a jump, " _REAL_ LY!" After the sudden outburst, she, with slight difficulty, regained her composure, acting in a mature, sophisticated manner. She felt rather foolish for jumping and shouting like some type of crazed fan girl when it came to a handsome celebrity.

"I wonder what he wants to discuss with me," she said while clearing her throat with an obviously phony, haughty cough. 'Maybe after all of this time, he's _finally_ going to ask me out! I've been waiting for this day to happen for _ages_! Lots of boys have asked me out before, but the boy I _truly_ want to ask me, hasn't…I just hope that this will be it!'

"Jen-chan, we better get going. You know how impatient my sister is."

"Don't I _know_ it!" the girl laughed. "Your sister is nice but one should never make her wait for you whenever she's the driver."

"We'll catch you later, Meihui-chan," Joya waved, as the two started off.

"See you, Mei-chan."

After they were a good distance away from Meihui, both of the girls began to discuss amongst themselves.

"She's never said it directly, but I think she likes Koushirou-kun," Jen briskly stated.

"I think she does too. She seems to get a bit annoyed whenever other girls approach or talk to him."

"It's a bit interesting how Mei-chan isn't the only one who seems to want his attention. Quite a few girls of our class do. Whenever he walks by, they seem to show admiration towards him."

"Remember Valentine's Day? A few of the girls of our class gave him chocolate. Knowing him, he probably just thought they were a bunch of *tomo choco. I wonder how he handled *White Day, thinking about it now."

"He _is_ the polite type and seems to be a bit traditional; I bet he ended up giving all who gave him chocolates, typical marshmallow candies or either white chocolate candies."

"But seems we would've heard something about it if he had. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if he receives some very impressive or fancy home-made choco next year."

"Is it just me, or is he just terribly unobservant where girls are concerned? He never seems to notice the girls who talk to him, or those who may do nice things for him."

"How could someone so inquisitive and observant be so _un_ observant when it comes to people?" Joya said while shaking her head in disbelief.

"Maybe in his mind, he just couldn't imagine any girl showing romantic interest in him."

"Out of all of the girls I've seen him associate with, seems he pays the most attention to Inoue-san along with the younger sister of the best soccer player in the history of Odaiba Junior High, Yagami Taichi-senpai. Her name is Yagami Hikari. She's a first year."

"That's only because Koushirou-kun is good friends with Yagami-senpai." the girl explained while the two changed out of their school shoes, after reaching their shoe-sized lockers. When done, they continued their walk. "Anyway, I don't think he talks with her as much as he does Inoue-san, probably because she's a first year. As for him always hanging around with Inoue-san, I just think the two are just really good friends."

Both girls reached the big front doors of the school. "But what about her?" Joya questioned as she pushed open the double doors.

Jen could only shrug in response. "It doesn't seem like there's anything going on. An observer who didn't know them too well, would probably just assume that the two could be a possible couple, but then again, from the viewpoint of those who know them fairly well, would probably just say they're just pretty good friends."

"I wonder if anyone has ever insinuated it."

"I doubt it; besides, don't you think that the few girls who are dropping hints that they're into him would stop pursuing him?"

"Well, some girls are a bit persistent. They could even be dating in secret for all we know."

"Oh of course not," Jen laughed. "Only _you_ would come up with such a crazy idea."

"I can't help the way my imagination is," she replied timidly.

"You know," Jen began randomly, "I wonder why the gym doors were locked today for practice."

"Good question. It was pretty strange, and the light coming from underneath the door was even stranger. That's what Mari-chan said to me when she walked by there earlier."

"I wonder if anyone else was in the gym."

"Well, Kouhei-niisan mentioned to me before joining up with you for Volleyball practice that he saw Motomiya-kun from the soccer club there. He also mentioned seeing Ichijouji-kun heading in that direction, but that doesn't mean anything."

"Where was your cousin headed of to?"

"Band practice. The after school activities that are usually held in the gym hadn't even started yet because of the testing of the first years for some weird reason, since the gym was closed. They don't usually test them at this time of the year, but who knows what's going on with the head of our school district."

"So your cousin saw those two, eh? Oh well, guess it doesn't matter now. Too bad they didn't just send us home since the gym _was_ closed."

"I guess we'll find out what happened Monday. One of the nosy students of our class has to know something," Jen laughed.

Right at that moment, the two heard a horn honk. They looked ahead, and parked on the street in front of the school was a girl very similar looking to Joya, only her hair was hanging down loosely to her shoulders, in a bright, yellow, Volkswagen Beetle."

"Ah, it's Ariana-neechan."

"I hope your sister hasn't been waiting long."

"Joya-chan, come on, I have stuff to do."

"Okay, okay, we're coming," Joya muttered irritably. With that, the young teens hopped into the car, and the young Ariana pulled off in a huff…  
x x x x  
'How _dare_ she tries to take him away from me,' Meihui growled as she stormed down the hall. 'I'll crash her entire program, and _then_ we'll see who'll be going around saying, 'bingo' when she presents that to the club!' Meihui's demeanor changed back to that of pure ecstasy as a certain redhead came to mind once again. 'Before I do that, I shall go see what my dear, sweet, Izumi-sama wants to ask me.'

With a giggle, she skipped merrily down the hallway towards the computer lab…  
x x x x  
Meanwhile, Koushirou had already started up the game, and the sound was working okay thus far. The game also had the choice of playing in Japanese or English. Koushirou chose English. As the game started, a character that resembled Miyako quite a bit was shown sitting in a bedroom on her bed reading. The character's name was, apparently, "Miya". As with any typical RPG type game, Koushirou started to explore the room, finding a couple of items; one of which being a Hawkmon card. He continued to investigate the girly, stuffed-animal filled room (the stuffed animals resembling their Digimon friends) until he felt he couldn't explore any further. He then led the character out and walked down some stairs located in front of it. When reaching the bottom step, a dark-haired man wearing an apron, along with glasses, walked over…

(Game Mode On)

Man: Miya, where are you going?

Miya: I'm going to the park, father. It is boring a lot here. I want to write a story for my friends, but ideas I don't have.

Man: The park good place to get ideas. Come home at dinner.

Miya: Bye father.

(Game Mode Off)

Before leaving, Miya received an item. A can of juice. "Hmm, I must find the park," Koushirou murmured in deep concentration.

He led the character out towards the front door of the home and began to walk down the street of her world. Koushirou ended up running into quite a few characters; most of the characters resembled their friends, and a couple of people they went to school with. One character Koushirou ran into resembled the girl that Miyako had a lot of hostility towards, Meihui. The girl by the name of, "Ai", was teasing Miya about not having her story finished. Another character he ran into seemed to resemble Ken a whole lot. Once Miya found the park, the AI took over…  
x x x x  
Outside in the hall, Meihui had finally made it to the computer lab. She was about to walk in, until she heard voices…  
x x x x  
"So far, so good, Miyako-kun," Koushirou complimented as he continued to play. "You even used a lot of kanji in here not typically used for these types of games, and that's pretty impressive for a beginner. You're already ready for your entrance exam and you still have another year to go here. People usually stick with plain old Hiragana or Katakana. As for the English, though a bit off with the dialect," he noticed the look of dread on Miyako's face, "it's still understandable! Honest! It does make sense! I understand it fine! As for the Japanese, I'm sure it's perfect, so I won't bother playing it in Japanese."

"Thank you very much, Izumi-senpai," the girl timidly laughed, "but I didn't use English for everything. There are some words I just don't know any English for. I'm still learning it. I want to be completely prepared when I take my exam next year since English is normally on it."  
x x x x  
"'Thank you very much, Izumi-senpai, but I didn't use English for everything'," Meihui mocked irritably. 'She's such a showoff and why is she being so overly polite?! I've been trying to get his attention ever since I first attended this school. With that Inoue brat, he's very different with compared to other girls.' Fire formed in the girl's dark, majestic eyes, and she bawled her left fist. 'Inoue is my _true_ rival! She's the only girl I know of who can get his full attention, which means I must defeat her and get rid of my competition, and what better way to do that than to make her look stupid!'

Meihui sighed dejectedly. 'That's going to be hard to do since she _is_ smart.'  
x x x x  
"That's okay; you're using it for the majority anyway. The only things you aren't using in English are the names of specific people or places." He gave her a a smile. "And don't worry about the English. I understand it, but it still isn't too great."

"But I thought only speaking it was difficult for you."

"Well, yeah, it is; listening, reading, and writing is okay," he told her while reading the text on the screen, "and as I pointed out earlier, I do actually understand this." He turned to face the girl standing behind him. "After we are done here would you like to get something to eat? We can go anyplace you would like for this job well done on this RPG of yours. I will even pay to show my appreciation."  
x x x x  
Meihui's jaw was on the floor, her eyes bugged out, and her ability to breathe seemed to just stop on her. After the brief shock, and regaining her skill of breathing, the girl's heart began to ache, and her anger and jealousy rose. 'How could he ask her such a thing! That's supposed to be me in there! She's just a stupid second-year student, Izumi-sama, what about me!'

"Yeah, okay," Miyako agreed, her tone casual. She couldn't turn down a free meal. "I could use something to eat. I've been here all evening."

"I noticed how down you looked when I was passing by, as-as I mentioned earlier and just felt the need to help you out. I'm sure my mother can go this one night without my eating her cooking." Koushirou decided to go back to the game, but mainly to keep himself from staring at Miyako. It was starting to make him feel a bit uncomfortable. "Miya picks up the strange, metal device by the bench. All of a sudden, she notices that the wind is blowing unusually hard and fast. She stands up and looks towards the sky. A bright light shines down on her…" Koushirou continued to read aloud.

After reading that last line, Miyako shivered a bit. The room was growing a bit breezy. "Hey, wait…what's going on!" The wind began to grow even stronger and more violent. "Where is that wind coming from?! All the windows are closed."

Koushirou stood up abruptly, his chair falling over in the process. The entire room was shaking, and the computer he was using, was illuminating the room with a bright, blinding light.

"An earthquake?"

"This is not supposed to be happening!" Miyako shouted.

"What's going on…look at the other computers!"

The other computers seemed to be acting in the same fashion as the one with the RPG Koushirou had been running. With all the commotion going on, Meihui pulled the sliding door back, and rushed inside.

Koushirou heard the door and looked back. "Meihui-san, what are you doing here?"

"Izumi-sama," she moved some of her long, black hair out of her face, "what's going on?"

Before he could answer, Miyako screamed out for help. She was being sucked in towards the computer that Koushirou had been on. She tried her best to grab hold of anything nearby, but it showed to be unsuccessful. Koushirou, hearing her cries for help, hurried himself over and grabbed her hands. He tried his best to pull her away from the strange, powerful tunnel that was forming behind her.

"Hold on Miyako-kun!"

The girl cried out for help again.

Meihui could only look on in slight disgust. She was quite annoyed over the fact that Miyako had gone through so much just to get Koushirou's attention. 'Please help me, Izumi-senpai,' she rolled her eyes, ' _please_! What's with her asking for his help in such an extra polite way! I wouldn't be surprised if she managed to set this up. She _is_ smart,' she sneered in pure jealousy. "Izumi-sama, save yourself! I'm sure she'll be fine."

Koushirou gave the girl a sour look and continued trying to pull the currently slipping girl away from the strange, bluish-white vortex.

"Izumi-sama," her voice was now enchantingly sweet, which most found a very beautiful thing, "why don't you-"

"Either help or leave," Koushirou cantankerously cut across. "Miyako-kun is my friend, and I refuse to leave her behind!"

Meihui was taken aback by Koushirou's aggressive tone towards her, feeling her heart fall slightly. The redhead usually remained calm, cool, and collected. It was very rare to see him lose his patience towards anyone. The girl sighed as she tied her long hair back. The wind was starting to grow unbearable in the classroom as even she had to stubbornly admit that this wasn't normal. She shakily went up to the taller boy, and hesitantly held his waist. As she did this, she felt her face glowing beet red and her ears sizzling. She'd never had the opportunity to be so close to the boy before.

"Thank you, Meihui-san," she heard him say in his usual, polite manner. Her legs nearly gave way as they seemed to turn to that of jelly, but she kept her composure and listened to the boy's instructions. "Pull!"

This went on for only a brief moment, as it didn't show to be victorious. It was much too overwhelming for the two, which resulted in all three being pulled into the strange vortex...

Author's Notes

Note 1: Okay, just thought I'd make a note about all of the songs mentioned for this chapter like I did for the previous one. I promise that after this chapter, you won't have to suffer through these types of author's notes pertaining to music.

Target~Akai Shougeki~: This is the original Digimon Adventure 02 opening theme song by Wada Kouji.

Crash de Bingo: This is Miyako's image theme, which is pretty catchy, in my opinion. It is performed by Natsuki Rio, who is Miyako's seiyuu.

Dancin' on the Sky: This is Miyako's background music theme. There are two versions of it; the first version is a bit faster than the second.

Butter-Fly: This is the original Digimon Adventure opening, which was performed by Wada Kouji.

Digital Scratch: This is Koushirou's background music theme. For the record, aside from Takeru and Hikari, the Adventure kids didn't get a new bgm theme for 02. Anyway, like all of the kids, there are two versions of it. The first version is a bit slower and seemed to be used most whenever Koushirou was giving off information. Seems the second version was used whenever he was doing something worthwhile on the computer. One time that pops into mind, was when he was hacking into that hospital data base in Adventure to find the right medication for Hikari.

Brave Heart: This is the first evolution theme, which is used for regular evolution sequences. It is performed by Ayumi Miyazaki.

Dark Wing: This song by Shiozawa Kaneto is Devimon's theme. Shiozawa-sama voiced Devimon. May Shiozawa's soul rest in peace, as he was a very well-renowned voice actor, I feel. He did many voiceovers during the years. He died in May of 2000. If I recall correctly, he died from heart failure at the age of 54.

Keep On: This song is performed by Maeda Ai (she was still going by this when releasing that single). This is the second Digimon Adventure ending, and it includes both Hikari and Tailmon (Angewomon) in the sequence.  
x x x  
Note 2: Jen and Joya. Okay, these names I used for these two characters are actually from a Pokemon fic I'd written at the time called Shadow Island. It was written a few years before this one and was a sequel to a fic I'd written of Satoshi (Ash) receiving his Earth Badge since, in 1999, I didn't get to see the episode since the show was dropped in my area early.  
x x x  
Note 3: In Japan, for Valentine's, the girls give the guys chocolates. The type of chocolate given can vary, depending on the actual guy. Let's say two people (guy and girl) are really good friends, and nothing more. In other words, the relationship is purely platonic. The girl may more than likely give him "tomo choco", also known as "friendship chocolate" since he is just a friend. In the office, a lady may give "giri choco", also known as "obligation chocolate", to her male coworkers. Tomo choco and giri choco are usually store-bought.

The other type of chocolate is "Honmei Choco", and that's the type that's usually given to one's love-interest or "sweetheart" or "crush". The difference, is that this type is usually home-made.  
x x x  
Note 4: White Day is the mirror of Valentine's Day in Japan which falls on March 14. On this day, the guys give marshmallow candies or white chocolate candies or presents to the girls who gave them chocolates on Valentine's Day, hence the name "White Day". Of course, other gifts can be given, but the marshmallow and white chocolate is what the holiday is most known for and what seems to be most associated with it. One year, I even received salami as a White Day gift because the person knew how much I seemed to like it. lol

Fic Chapter Changes

First and only significant change…Miyako's amount of admirers. Originally there were three, but I decided to drop it. It felt forced anyway.


	4. Relaxing Dinner

Hi again all. I'm sorry I took such a while to update this chapter. I was a bit busy with this new job of mine. That aside, I hope you enjoy this chapter. As you can see, it's about the crest bearers of light and hope, but our young light bearer senses something is off...

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with this series. Toei and Bandai have that honor.

Chapter 04: "ヒカリちゃんは大輔くんが苦労です..."  
"Hikari-chan wa Daisuke-kun ga kurou desu..."  
"Hikari's Predicament with Daisuke..." Takeru and Hikari's Relaxing Dinner!

It was a nice, sunny day in Odaiba, and both Takeru and Hikari were taking full advantage of what remained left of that fall day. Both were currently at a new restaurant; an outside pizza parlour. The two were celebrating their latest victory, getting through all of their exams.

"I thought we were going to _never_ finish with all of that testing," Hikari exclaimed happily.

Takeru, who was holding two drinks, sat down at the table, which had a big umbrella overhead. "I'm glad too. Junior high is a lot tougher than I realized, but we don't usually get exams at this time of the year either, do we?"

"No, we don't. Oniichan was going on about how weird it was for us to be having them."

"I hope Iori-kun spends his last couple of years in elementary school wisely." The boy began to set the drinks down. He had a cola, while Hikari had lemonade. "I hope they hurry with that pizza. It's supposed to be a traditional style from America, or something like that."

"What kind did we get again?"

"Shikago Diipu Dishu Sutairu (Chicago Deep Dish Style)," he answered slowly while looking over the menu.

"I was actually in the mood for *okonomiyaki (お好み焼き), but that's not something you can prepare here and I prefer Osaka style anyway."

"You always suggest going to okonomiyaki shops whenever trying to decide on a place to eat."

"Well, okonomiyaki is the best to me," she said with a smile.

"Well, unlike okonomiyaki, this is going to cook a bit longer. It's pretty big too. I ordered the biggest they had, and asked for 'extra cheese', too. We should have a lot left over. That type is supposed to be extra filling."

"Oh, thank you for my drink. Junk food is something we definitely need after all that testing we just finished up with, but you don't think we're over doing it, do you?"

Takeru took a sip of his soda. "What do you mean? Overdoing what?"

"There are probably enough fat calories in that pizza to turn someone really slim, like your brother, into a sumo!"

"No way," Takeru heartily laughed. "I hardly ever eat a lot of junk food; my mother won't let me." He gave her a grin. "I bet if this was okonomiyaki or cake, you wouldn't be complaining." Hikari couldn't help but blush slightly. The girl practically loved the delicacy. "It's time to live a little, and we don't have too much to worry about."

"We don't?"

"Daisuke-kun eats a lot, and he'll probably eat the most of it!"

Both Takaishi Takeru and Yagami Hikari were 13 years old, and in their first year at Odaiba Junior High. Just like when he was in Odaiba Elementary school, and his last year at Kawada Elementary before transferring, Takeru was the star basketball player. The boy had also grown a bit taller, as well as a bit more handsome. He was almost as big as his older brother, Yamato; the heartthrob of Odaiba High. How his brother could ever manage to get into a relationship, and keep one, was beyond him. Girls seemed to always tag after him. Even in elementary school, Yamato always had a problem with girls trying to pursue him; Takeru was having this particular problem now amongst his schoolmates, even though he never really seemed to notice them much. He did have female friends he'd occasionally hang out with.

Hikari was a member of her school's photography club. She really enjoyed it, and was the photographer of their school's newspaper. The shoulder-lengthened haired girl was still kind and polite, and was still cute, small, and petite. Something else that hadn't changed about her was her sixth sense ability. The main difference was that it wasn't as strong as it once was.

"You know, I wonder why Daisuke-kun isn't here yet," Hikari mentioned randomly. "He promised that he would come with us. I hope nothing's happened. I'm actually starting to worry about him." The girl heaved out a long, sad sigh as she thought of her once cheery friend. 'He just hasn't been himself lately. Normally when I ask him to join me for something, he's the first to run by my side.' She looked to her right, the chair empty. She slightly frowned, as she just wasn't used of Daisuke's _not_ being around. 'He hasn't talked to me much lately, either. I'm starting to really miss his attention.'

"Ichijouji-kun was supposed to have been here by now, too. We all studied hard thanks to his idea of having a study group. I'm sure that's the reason we probably did okay on our exams. He said that he was coming after he spoke with his soccer coach about something."

"What about Daisuke-kun?"

"He said earlier today at lunch that he had to get in some practice today when reminding him, and that he'd meet up with us later. He also told me that if he's late, to just go on and order without him."

"Practice? Practice what? There's no soccer club meet today."

"I'm not sure; he didn't say."

"I just _really_ hope he gets here soon." Hikari, to Takeru, was starting to seem a bit uneasy over the goggle-boy's _not_ being there. He couldn't help but wonder why. "I just have this feeling that something's wrong."

"You're worrying too much over nothing." He gave her his signature smile, which all the girls loved, and that all of his friends were quite used to. "You know how he is when he gets wrapped up in something."

"I guess so," she slowly replied. She wasn't very content with his answer. Hikari still wasn't convinced that Daisuke was all right, but she didn't feel like burdening Takeru with how she felt on the matter, and decided to get off of the subject. "I think it's really nice that Ichijouji-kun goes to school with us now."

"Definitely! I couldn't imagine going to that school. It seems perfect for a person like Jou-san, though."

"To be honest, I really feel that he switched schools to be with us...and Miyako-san."

"Why do you say that? Why did you single out Miyako-san?"

"I really feel that he really...um...likes her company."

"Sounds like there's more to that, but maybe you're right. He started to warm up to everyone, unless you mean you think he likes her in…that way." She nodded to him and sipped some more of her lemonade. "I'm not so sure about now. Those two don't even talk to each other much anymore, unless it's by phone or e-mail. Since she's usually busy with Koushirou-san doing Computer Club stuff or helping out my brother with his band and Ichijouji-kun is usually busy with soccer. It's surprising that those two can talk to each other at all outside of school functions. I'm a bit surprised that he didn't join the Computer Club."

"I'm surprised too, thinking about it now. I always thought he liked computers."

"Maybe he didn't join because of soccer. The Soccer Club here trains very hard, and their coach works both him and Daisuke-kun hard. I bet he makes those two practice the most because they're two of the best players in the entire club since Taichi-san was a student. Too bad Sora-san didn't continue to play soccer, but she became very serious with tennis."

"I think oniichan tried getting her to play soccer, but she'd lost interest and stuck with tennis, but she did help him practice plays."

"I guess that makes sense, but still surprising about what you were insinuating about Ichijouji-kun."

"Well, if Ichijijouji-kun didn't like Miyako-san in the beginning, I feel that it's obvious that he does now. He seems to always talk or ask about her. I've noticed him doing that a lot, lately; besides, she _was_ the first girl to believe in him after he finally came to his senses, and stopped being the Digimon Kaiser."

"Actually, that was Mimi-san..."

"Aww, Takeru-kun, you know what I mean."

He laughed.

"You know something else I've noticed lately?"

"What?"

"Oniichan."

"What about him?"

"He's been a bit moody lately, and I can't figure out why. Oniichan has never been like this before."

"I-it's probably nothing," Takeru answered quickly, growing a bit uneasy. "It's probably a guy thing."

"You and your, 'it's a guy thing'. I'm sure I'd understand if he explained it to me." The girl frowned as she played with the straw of her drink. "I hate it when he gets like this and snaps at me for no reason. He's been like this for a little over a week now."

"Maybe he's stressed out from soccer. High school is probably a lot tougher than junior high, since they train harder there," the blonde said, hoping Hikari would drop the subject. 'I feel really bad for Taichi-san right now. I just wish I would've never told him about it, but it's not like I knew I wasn't supposed to.

'He goes around acting like the happiest person alive, especially when he's out on the field. He's just wearing a mask to hide how hurt and down he really is, and I'm not supposed to even mention it to anyone.'

"I doubt it. He's had tough captains over the years, and he's never acted like this before! He usually welcomes the challenge."

"Maybe you shouldn't bother him about it."

"Takeru-kun," she gave the blonde a suspicious look, "you almost sound like you know more than you're telling. Do you know something about oniichan that I don't?"

" _Me_? _Know_ something?" He nervously laughed. "I don't know _what_ you're talking about."

"You _do_ know something about my brother! I can tell by that uneasy look you get and that nervous laugh you usually give off whenever you're trying to hide something! You're also pulling on the collar of your shirt!" Takeru looked down, and realized that he was, indeed, tugging the collar of his uniform shirt, and stopped. "You may be an excellent basketball player, Takaishi Takeru, but you're a _terrible_ liar!"

"Well, I, um..."

"Come on, please tell me what's wrong."

"Okay, okay, you're right." He figured that lying wouldn't help much since the girl had pretty much pointed out that he was obviously fibbing. "I _do_ know what's going on with Taichi-san, but I'm not supposed to discuss it with anyone."

"Why, because my brother said so?"

"No, because _my_ brother said so."

"Yamato-san? What does he have to do with my brother?"

"A lot," Takeru muttered.

"I don't really understand, but you can still tell me," Hikari told him sweetly. Her concern for Taichi was pretty strong, and she hated to see her brother unhappy. "I promise that I won't share the information with your brother or mine. I just want to help oniichan. He's always taken care of me, now it's my turn."

"I'm sorry, but I can't betray my brother's trust again."

"Again?"

"I already messed up when I told Taichi-san." Hikari stared at the boy, a look of perplexity on her young face. Takeru noticed the girl's inquisitive look, and continued. "I didn't know at the time that I wasn't supposed to have shared this with him, but I brought it up in conversation with him one day.

"Later on that day, when I went to visit my father for the weekend, my brother told me not to tell anyone about what was going on. He also mentioned that he, as well as the third person involved, wasn't ready for everyone to know yet and I can't let that person know that I know either."

'What's with all of these secrets?'

"I felt awful after he told me this, but I never revealed that I told your brother what he told me _not_ to tell. I did promise him, though, that I wouldn't tell either. After that, I told Taichi-san about what happened and how he wasn't supposed to have known. The secret that I revealed to him is probably bothering him a little, which is causing him to be a bit moody. I think he wants my brother, and the other person involved, to just tell him this secret directly and feels bad because he heard it through a third-party. I really think he feels betrayed right now," Takeru finished up. He'd said all that he'd wanted to, but wouldn't allow himself to go any further. It was difficult enough to say what he had without giving too much away. He also didn't want to make his brother look bad.

'Taichi-san is feeling betrayed by both of his friends right now; one he's always trusted, and another he's always confided in. I hate keeping this from Hikari-chan, since she probably could try helping him to cope with this, even if in reality she probably couldn't, but a promise _is_ a promise. I didn't see his face when giving this information to Taichi-san, but the way he sounded after I did...his entire demeanor seemed to just change…'

"Oniichan feels betrayed?"

"Yeah, probably, but I really shouldn't get into that either. I promised my brother I wouldn't. It's just a bond that we brothers have. I'm sure you'd understand it better if you and Taichi-san were brothers."

"This just isn't fair! I want to know what's going on with oniichan!"

"As obvious as he seems to be lately, according to you, I'm sure he'll let it slip out. I doubt he can keep it in for too much longer. Besides, it's something that you really can't fully help him with."

Hikari stopped trying to pursue the matter and went quiet, her mind wandering once again.

"Hikari-chan, what's wrong?" asked Takeru, breaking the silence. "If it's about the secret, I already explained that I ca-"

"N-no, it's not that," she interrupted vaguely. "I was just thinking about Tailmon, and wondering how she and the other Digimon are doing."

Takeru stared up at the bright, clear-blue sky and nodded. "I really do miss Patamon."

"I miss them too, but right now...I'm a bit worried."

"I wish there was some way we could go see them all again. It's hard to believe that it's been almost two years since we've seen them last. No random gates have opened up or anything since that final one back then. I wonder what they've been up t-wait, what do you mean you're worried?"

"I have this feeling that we're going to see them all again pretty soon, only now I feel that it's going to be because of something bad."

"What happened to your optimism?"

"I'm not sure." She stared down at the table, a forlorn look upon her face. "I've had this feeling for a long while now, but today, it seems to be intensified and right now, it's stronger than ever. I really can't explain it. I've been trying to brush it off for the past week or so now, but right at this moment, it's...it's just overwhelming. I also feel that if we _do_ see our Digimon friends again, that we're going to be different in some way."

"Different?" She nodded. "Different how?"

"I'm not too sure; I don't even know how, I just know that we will be if we see them again."

"Well, we _are_ older now. Maybe that's it."

"No, no…I don't think so. It could be…I don't know," she sighed.

Takeru could only stare at the girl curiously. "I'm _really_ starting to wonder about you."

"What do you mean?"

"When we left our Digimon the first time, you just knew we'd end up seeing them again, and we did. Random gates opened and we were able to spend a lot of time with them during our adventure two years ago.

"If I'm remembering right, the first time we had to leave our Digimon, you weren't crying or anything. You didn't even look sad. You just seemed to feel bad for Mimi-san, since Palmon couldn't face having to say goodbye to her."

"That's because I sensed that we would see them again, so I didn't have any reason to be sad and I didn't have any reason to cry."

"You have to be the most mysterious person I've ever met! You are always sensing things and not being able to explain them."

"I don't know why I'm like this," Hikari answered, her head hanging.

"Don't worry about it, and what's with that apologetic tone? That's just what makes you special, and that's something I really like about you..."

"I guess..." she murmured depressingly.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm sure everything is fine in the Digital World. No gate has opened to allow us back to help them, so everything _must_ be okay on their end."

She gave him a halfhearted smile. "There you go again, always being hopeful. No wonder you have the crest attribute of hope."

Right at that moment, their huge pizza was brought to their table. Takeru was ready to eat, but Hikari refused.

"Takeru-kun, you know we can't eat without the others; it would be rude."

"I say we make an exception! We'll just leave them some."

She shook her head. "I refuse to; besides, I'm still a bit worried about Daisuke-kun."

"I've never seen you this worried over anyone, aside from Taichi-san, before. If you want, we can wait for both Ichijouji-kun and Daisuke-kun."

"I'm just getting a weird feeling about him, _and_ Ichijouji-kun. I really do hope those two are okay."

'That sixth sense of hers is working in overdrive. I'm surprised she could concentrate enough to take her tests today. The fact that she's been feeling this way for so long and how she kept it to herself had to have been tough for her.' Takeru got an idea. "I could call to see if those two are still around."

"I would really appreciate that."

"I'm pretty sure Ichijouji-kun has his mobile with him."

The once feared Digimon Kaiser, Ichijouji Ken, attended school with Hikari and the others now. He still had his "pretty boy" looks, and was much taller now. He was a bit taller than Takeru, but slightly shorter than Yamato, Taichi, and Jou (who still towered everyone). No one knew exactly why in his final year of elementary, Ken transferred from the prestigious Tamachi Elementary to Odaiba Elementary. *It was said that Tamachi Elementary was one of the best schools of the area, and how it was an honor to even be accepted into the school.

It wasn't quite like a private school, but with the expectations and standards, one could've mistaken it for one, though. His switching from a school like that, to a "typical public school", boggled the minds of many, especially given the distance between Tamachi and Odaiba. Ken had to wake up very early just to get to school on time. Rumors circulated, some saying that the time when he was "missing", had something to do with it, or either he had somehow lost his noteworthy intelligence that he was most known for, or either he couldn't take the pressure of the school, and had no desire to go to Tamachi Junior High or Tamachi Senior High. Hikari pretty much figured that he enjoyed their company, and just wanted to be with them. For whatever the reason, Ken was genuinely happy now; something he hadn't been for many years up to that point.

Ken, who was also a first-year student, and age 13, was one of the best players of Odaiba Junior High's Soccer Club. The only other person, who could even rival his extreme talent and skill, was Daisuke, who made just as many saves, great plays, and goals as he did. Out of the other members of the Soccer Club, their captain worked both Ken and Daisuke the hardest by allowing them to do early practice drills more. How Ken had the energy for this, given his commute time, was beyond his friends.

He was still smart, just not as smart as he was with the Dark Spore's powers while he was the Digimon Kaiser. He had other things on his mind anyway, like friends for one. Either way, Ken still made satisfactory to above average marks all on his very own.

Takeru went through his list, and chose "Ichijouji". The phone rang for a moment, when a voice on the other end finally answered.

"Moshi-moshi..." the owner of the voice routinely, and cautiously, answered.

"It's me, Takeru."

"Oh, Takeru-san. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong; just wondering if you and Daisuke-kun were on the way here. Hikari-chan is growing concerned over you two."

"Sorry, I'm still at school. I was looking for Miyako-san. I was going to ask if she wanted to join us, but no one's seen her around; Koushirou-san either. I figured that she'd be with him someplace and could invite him too, but no one's seen either of them."

"Did you try the Faculty Computer Lab or the Student one? How about the library?"

"I checked the library and most of the computer labs. I haven't gotten around to checking the one in the West Wing since it's so far out of my way. I was thinking about checking there next."

"Other than your hunt for Miyako-san and Koushirou-san, what else is going on?"

"Oh, I just got out of a meeting with my captain. I noticed the time, and was about to head on over to join you, but I'm not sure what's wrong with Motomiya. I saw him heading towards the gym when I was on my way to speak with my soccer club captain. I figured he would've just gone ahead. I'm standing in front of the gym now, and it sounds like he's still in there."

"He's still there?"

"Yeah, but I have no idea why. I guess he lost track of the time."

"I just got an idea; why don't we just bring the food there to celebrate?"

"I guess that's okay, and if we need to heat anything, or get ice for drinks, we could just sneak to the kitchen the Cooking Club uses. I'll go tell Daisuke about it right now!"

"You _do_ know that you guys owe me, right?"

"I know, I know. We were going to split the bill three-way since Hikari-san, _some_ how, managed to get out of paying," Ken said with a sweat drop. "You pay for the entire meal, and both Motomiya and I pay you back whenever we meet up."

"Okay then. We'll leave here in a bit. It shouldn't take us too long to get there."

"Alright, bye."  
x x x x  
Ken hanged up his phone, and stared at the closed, gym doors. 'What is wrong with Motomiya? He'd never purposely keep Hikari-san waiting.' The boy slipped his phone back into his green uniform jacket pocket. 'I guess I should go in and talk to him now...'  
x x x x  
"Well?" Hikari questioned eagerly.

"Change of plans," he put his phone away, "I'm paying, and we're taking everything back to school."

"Huh? Back to school?"

"Ichijouji-kun just got out of a conference, and he said that before he went to that, he saw Daisuke-kun heading towards the gym."

"Why would he go there?"

"Who knows," Takeru answered plainly. "He's been acting strange lately, anyway. He really hasn't been his usual, overly-confident, cheery self." After he made his statement, he noticed Hikari's look growing somber once again. He inwardly smacked himself, as he'd meant to think it, not echo the girl's worries from earlier. "Hikari-chan?" She remained quiet for a short moment, and looked up at Takeru. To the boy of hope, she looked like she could've started crying at any moment. "Hikari-chan, what's wrong?"

"Do you think that he...hates me?" the girl asked in a voice barely above that of a whisper. As much as she didn't want to talk about it, she realized that she couldn't keep it in any longer.

" _Hate_ you?"

She nodded slowly as she stared down at her lap, her eyes stinging due to her trying her best to hold back tears. "I-I think he hates me."

"You're the _last_ person he would hate!" he assured her confidently. 'Daisuke-kun has a big crush on her; how could she _possibly_ think that he _hates_ her? Hikari-chan is a wonderful person...'

"Well, it's like he's been ignoring me lately, and I just sense coldness from him."

"He's been cold and ignoring everyone. It's not just you, but me too, and even Ichijouji-kun. Something is bothering him that he doesn't want to talk to us about."

"Well I intend on finding out!" Hikari said with determination. At the moment, the girl was reminding him of Taichi. The Yagami look of determination between the two siblings was uncanny. "I hate to see him upset, or _any_ of my good friends sad."

"That's the spirit. I'm sure he's just having a problem with his parents, or maybe he's annoyed that he's in his sister's shadow, as surprising as that sounds. She always made decent grades, even if she did spend most of her time chasing after my brother. As far as Daisuke-kun is concerned, he feels that she's the favorite between the both of them."

"How do you know?"

"Well, it's just an observation. I do hang out at his place a lot. He's also pretty much said as much whenever he complains about his sister, even though you know he wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her. He never directly says it, but that's the impression I get. Jun-san was pretty good in school, so maybe his parents are expecting too much out of him, sort of like the situation with Ichijouji-kun used to be."

"Oh yeah, that's right. Miyako-san told us about that, and how his parents were seeing him as his older brother, especially after his death. Ichijouji-kun seems to really trust Miyako-san to share something so personal with her."

"I'm almost positive that's the problem, but, seems he would've gotten over it by now..."

"Takeru-kun," Hikari rose from her seat, "what are you waiting for? Let's go!"

"Okay, okay." Takeru paid for the pizza and carried the box. .

The two, with their book-bags in hand, made their way back towards school. Takeru took in a big breath of fresh air. "It's so nice out here. It's supposed to be sunny and clear all weekend. We should all do something tomorrow afternoon after the tennis match Sora-san is having and before my brother's concert."

"That's not a bad idea, but," she looked up towards the now darkening sky, "I think you're wrong about the weather."

He looked over at her. "Eh? What do you mean?"

She pointed upwards. "Look at how cloudy it's getting."

"What the..."

"I guess the weather report was wrong. It looks like a storm is coming. We should hurry and find shelter before it starts raining."

The wind began to pick up. Other people were also starting to take notice as the odd looking storm clouds began to form into some type of a long, spinning funnel.

"Takeru-kun, I have a bad feeling about this."

"Whoa, that looks like a tornado!" a bystander pointed out.

"We don't get tornadoes here!" another person panicked.

Takeru began to get the same worried feeling that Hikari had. This just didn't seem natural somehow. "They're right; we _don't_ usually get tornadoes here."

The wind level began to rise more as everyone tried their bests to take cover to avoid the unexpected, oncoming storm. The funnel grew more violent and powerful. It then made its move. It didn't go towards any of the buildings or people around, instead...

"Takeru-kun," she held her uniform skirt down with a bit of difficulty with her barely free hand, "that thing is coming towards us!"

"RUN!"

Hikari, who had been carrying drinks, dropped them, and ran alongside Takeru, who had tossed the pizza box aside. Before getting too far, a bright light seemed to flash, blinding them in the process. It was as if lightening had struck right in front of them.

"Hikari-chan, are you okay?" Takeru questioned, while shielding his eyes.

Before the girl could respond, she turned to face the funnel. She seemed to be drawn to it, and appeared to be in a trance-like manner.

"HIKARI-CHAN!"

Before he knew it, Hikari was sucked into the funnel, and her book-bag fell from her hand, which seemed to wake her up, as she began to call for help. Takeru stared wide-eyed at the sight. He wasn't sure what to do. After Hikari had been taken completely in, the vortex came towards him, but instead of running, he stood his ground. He took off his signature off-white hat (which he'd put on after school let out), and tossed it aside along with his book-bag. He knew that this wasn't normal, nor did he care where he would end up.

"I can't let her down! I have to save her!" Takeru said with determination. "Hikari-chan, I'm coming! Just hang on!"

The tornado engulfed the young teen. The cyclone disappeared and the sky cleared up soon after, leaving behind people staring on in shock, trying to figure out what had just happened...

Author's Notes

Note 1: Okonomiyaki is pretty much a "Japanese pancake" mixed with a pizza…I guess. I honestly don't know how to describe it. There are different styles based on the region you're in. A couple of well-known styles are Osakan style and Hiroshima style. I like both. For more information on okonomiyaki, you can look it up online and places like wikipedia.  
x x x  
Note 2: The stuff about Tamachi Elementary being a prestigious school, and such, was pretty much made up as I'm not sure. Here in Japan, school uniforms are mandatory for all junior and senior high schools. Elementary schools usually don't have uniforms, unless it's a private school. This is generally the case, but there are some exceptions and there are some public elementary schools that use them, but rare. So, I'm going to still assume that it's a high-ranking public school since I'm pretty sure Ken's school was supposed to have been a public school.

Fic Chapter Changes

I included that Tamachi and Odaiba aren't particularly close. It's doable, though. He can get to one of the main stations in Odaiba in about 30 minutes or so and the Rainbow Bridge (which connects mainland Tokyo to Odaiba) is about 15 or 20 minutes away on foot from Tamachi station, but who knows what route he'd have to take to get to the actual school after the train ride or after crossing the bridge. Also, there _is_ a Tamachi elementary school in Japan, but not where Ken's character lives.

Most of the okonomiyaki conversation was dropped as it was definitely unnecessary.

Originally I had that in her first year, Sora still played soccer but switched over to tennis in her second year. Usually, once you choose a club in junior high, you stick with it for the duration that you're there. Besides, in the Original Story drama, which took place between 1999 and 2001 (Sora's took place in 2000), it was referenced how serious she was about tennis and how her mother was helping her.

I cut out some of the more forced shipping stuff and made it a bit more subtle.

Changed up some of the dialogue pertaining to Takeru going on about the secret he's keeping for his brother and Taichi. It felt like klunky exposition…sort of. Actually, it still feels this way, only not as bad as it was originally, imo.


	5. Predicament

Hi again, everyone. I hope you're enjoying the story still, and thanks for any comments left by you for me. I'm always willing to improve, so your comments are very helpful and beneficial to me. I know you're wondering what's happening to the kids after being abducted. I promise you that you'll find out soon enough. See, Digimon Adventure and 02 have too many Chosen Children (Digidestined) to deal with. lol I have to have them all abducted first, which is why I'm pretty much writing these abductions in pairs or more, so as to get through it faster. From this point, the only ones left will be Jou, Taichi, Yamato, Sora, and Iori. Four more parts.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon game, anime, manga, toys, etc., Toei and Bandai have that pleasure.

Chapter 05: "おれの変な苦労がある!"  
"Ore no hen na kurou ga aru!"  
"My Peculiar Predicament!" Ichijouji Lends an Ear!

In the currently empty gym of Odaiba Junior High, in his gym clothes, was the maroon-haired Motomiya Daisuke. He was shooting baskets from the free-throw line, unfortunately, missing every single one of them.

"Darn Takeru," the boy muttered irritably, "I have to beat him!"

Daisuke, just like Hikari, Ken, and Takeru, was 13, and in his second year of junior high school. He was a bit taller, but not as tall as Ken or Takeru. His hair was still pretty much spiky, and he still wore the signature goggles that his mentor, Taichi, had given him. The boy excelled at soccer, and even his test scores were better now thanks to his very best friend, Ken.

He dribbled the ball, and shot another basket, missing once again. He groaned petulantly, as he retrieved the ball to try again. Ken noticed Daisuke head into the gym earlier, but didn't think anything of it. When returning, he peaked through the door, surprised to see that he was still in there. He had just finished talking on the phone with Takeru, who mentioned that he and Hikari were on their way to school with their victory meal, and to pass the information along to Daisuke.

"I wonder what's wrong with Motomiya. He's been in the gym for a long time now.

"I should probably go check up on him, but I'll call Miyako-san first. I should have done that instead of wasting all of this time looking around the school for her."

Ken pulled out his mobile phone, and sped-dialed Miyako, hoping that the girl actually had her phone out, as it was against school rules to use them on school grounds.  
x x x x  
"Hmm, I think this just may be right," Miyako murmured while typing in some commands.

"Hey, Miyako-kun, I think your phone's ringing. It doesn't sound like mine. I don't think I turned it back on yet."

"So it is," the girl replied distractedly.

"Aren't you going to answer it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I want to work more on this."

"We can go back to it later," Koushirou wisely input. "Go on and answer. It could be important."

"Yeah, I guess. Now where did I put that thing..." She followed the sound and soon noticed that it was right beside her. Earlier, she had it out looking for an old message. Knowing that her voice-mail would pick up, she answered without checking the number. "Moshi-moshi."

"Hi there, Miyako-san," the light voice on the other end responded.

"Ken-kun," Miyako responded excitedly, "how are you?! I haven't talked to you in a while since I've been so busy."

"I definitely understand. My soccer captain kept me back for a conference to go over some new plays he wants to present to the team. I just finished up there a while ago."

"That guy is going to burn you and the rest of the club out."

"It's no problem," he casually replied, growing quiet. His mind had blanked out completely on what he had originally called her for. Just hearing her voice was good enough for him. 'Why why _why_! _Why_ does Miyako-san cause me to lose my train of thought like this sometimes?'

"Ken-kun?"

"I-I'm sorry," the boy nervously apologized, finally remembering the reason for his call. "So, I was just wondering...that is...if you would like to join me for a bite to eat."

"E-e-excuse me?!" Koushirou noticed the look of surprise, yet happiness, on his younger friend's face. He was very curious as to what Ken could have possibly said to garner such a reaction.

"W-well, T-Takeru-san, Hikari-san, Motomiya, and I are going to eat at that new outdoor pizza parlour," he explained, his stomach tying itself into various tiny knots. He held it with his free hand, to help ease the inexplicable strange sensation. He never understood why even attempting to speak to the lavender-haired girl was such a challenge for him now-a-days.

"I would _love_ to go-"

"You would!?"

"-but I can't," Miyako finished with a whine. "I have to finish up this stupid program by tonight, at least, and I keep running into glitch after glitch; problem after problem! I still can't seem to figure out why I keep having so many. Each day, the problem is either different, or an existing one just ends up worse!"

"Oh, I understand," he replied dejectedly.

"I really _am_ sorry."

Ken smacked his forehead. "Oh wait! I just remembered something," he laughed timidly. "I meant to ask you if you would like to join us down here in the gym."

"The gym?"

"Yeah; since Motomiya is running late, they decided to bring back all of the food that they bought, here. They ordered the biggest pizza they sold."

"That _does_ sound inviting, but I really have to finish this, Ken-kun. I'm really, truly sorry."

The line went silent. She was wondering if her service had dropped the call, and hoped that was actually it. She hated to disappoint the boy more than anything. "I _could_ drop by later. Hopefully, you all will still be there."

"Yeah, hopefully," he said with forced enthusiasm, which a currently distracted. Miyako didn't even notice.

"It's strange how Daisuke is late, especially if Hikari-chan is involved. Did Daisuke have to meet with the coach before you or something?"

"No, he went straight to the gym."

"That's even stranger, but, then again, he _has_ been acting a bit off lately I've noticed. Last time, we were talking about how weird Daisuke's been towards everyone."

"Yeah; well, I should let you get back to work." His flip-flopping stomach had finally settled. "Maybe we can get together another time. I'll talk to you later."

"Sure, and tonight, I don't have to help out at my family's store. I can talk to you then."

"Okay."

"I'll call you tonight then, Ken-kun."

"Right, Miyako-san. Talk to you later."  
x x x x  
Ken hanged up his phone, and frowned, not sure why he was so down for her not joining him and the others. 'She's _always_ busy...'  
x x x x  
"Ichijouji-kun, eh? What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"It's nothing much," Miyako answered while putting her phone away. "He wanted me to join him, Hikari-chan, Daisuke, and Takeru-kun for dinner. I told him I'll join them later," she explained.

"You could go now if you really want to," Koushirou halfheartedly offered.

"No way! I'm going to finish this computer game if it _kills_ me!"

Koushirou couldn't help but smile at the girl. "You're very persistent."

"Why in the _world_ did I promise something like this," Miyako groaned in extreme exasperation. "This is my last day to work on this since I'll be too busy tomorrow!"  
x x x x  
Daisuke took another shot, and missed. "Damn it!" Ken heard him grumble.

He decided, at that moment, that Daisuke really needed him or some type of a friend. He really seemed a bit stressed over something, and that was pretty unusual for the boy, who never seemed to let anything get to him, and always had a cheery disposition about him. He pulled the door open, and made his way across the slick floor. "Yo, Motomiya!"

Daisuke turned back to see the tall, handsome dark-haired boy coming towards him waving. Once Ken reached him, Daisuke greeted him dully. "Oh, hi, Ken."

"So, what's happening?"

"Nothing," he answered quickly.

"Are you sure?"

"I _said_ that I was fine!" he snapped at the taller boy.

"If you say so."

Daisuke gave off a disgruntled sigh. To Ken, he seemed even slightly bothered by _his_ being there, a definite first. "Why are you here?"

"I came here to inform you that we're late."

"Late? What are we late for?"

"We're late for our early, extra-high caloric celebration with Takeru-san and Hikari-san. They just called wondering where we were."

"Yeah...dinner," the boy trailed off.

"Hikari-san was _really_ worried about you," Ken told him slyly. He knew something like _that_ would get the soccer player's attention.

All Daisuke could say was, "Yeah, sure", and went back to dribbling the basketball he had. He really sounded like he just didn't care. This wasn't the optimistic Motomiya Daisuke that Ken knew; someone had replaced him with a clone with a dreary attitude.

Ken was a bit taken aback by his friend's apathy, and knew that something _had_ to have been wrong for him to act in such a way, especially with his lack of concern over Hikari's being concerned over him. For as long as he'd known Daisuke, he'd _always_ had a bit of a crush on her. Normally, something like that would've made Daisuke extremely happy, and would've jumped at the chance to join her.

"Okay, Motomiya," Ken began sternly as he snatched the dribbling ball from his friend, "spill it! This has gone on long enough, and it ends now!

"I know you like Hikari-san. Practically _every_ one knows that you do, even Hikari-san! I just told you that she was worried about you, and you're acting like it's no big deal! This isn't like you at all. I've noticed it, and so has Miyako-san and even Takeru-san. Thinking about it, it's almost like you have something against her."

Daisuke didn't say anything, and just stared at the boy, frowning. He hadn't realized he'd been so obvious.

" _Well_?"

"I don't _hate_ Hikari-chan," Daisuke uttered softly.

"I never said that you did. You just act as if you're holding some type of a grudge against her, and I don't understand why."

Daisuke snatched the ball back from Ken. "I don't have anything against her," he stated plainly. The boy turned his back to him, and went back to making free throw shots, still missing.

"Daisuke..."

"You don't know what it's like to like someone who doesn't feel the same way back," he replied suddenly, while retrieving the ball.

"What?"

"I didn't mean to make it seem like I was holding a grudge against Hikari-chan," he stared at the basket, trying to concentrate again, "I just rather not be around her right now. I only did the study group thing because I knew it would be helpful, and my parents, for once in their lives, are proud of me because of my test scores, and aren't thinking of me as their *'stupid son'."

"I still don't understand why you don't want to be around Hikari-san."

"Because it's obvious that she doesn't like me the way I like her!"

Ken couldn't believe how unreasonable Daisuke was being over such - what he considered - a trivial problem. "That's all?"

"It's starting to _hurt_ , Ken!" Ken was growing even more astounded. Daisuke sounded like he was about to cry. "Unless I was more like _him_ , I'd have a better chance with her!"

"What do you mean? Those two aren't together in that way. You can still try to win over her affections."

Daisuke stopped shooting baskets, and faced the boy, a look of jealousy and sadness on his usually bright, cheery face. "I lost her when _he_ moved here!"

"Well, um, weren't those two friends before _you_ officially became friends with her?"

"You _still_ don't get it! It really _bothers_ me to see her with Takeru. She's _always_ with him. It never really bothered me before, but it has been more and more lately.

"Before he moved here, she used to hang around with me, but now she hardly talks to me because she's with Takeru so much or either she hangs around me along _with_ Takeru. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Takeru or anything like that. I just wish, I guess, that I was more like him so that Hikari-chan could notice me, and maybe not see me as 'just a friend'."

"Is that why you're in here shooting baskets? Are you trying to improve your game to challenge Takeru-san?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Even though Takeru is my friend, he's also my _true_ rival."

"Daisuke, you are _not_ him. You have to realize that."

"Tell me something I _don't_ already know," he indignantly scoffed. "If I was him, I'd be happier right now."

"Hikari-san, and any other girl for that matter, should like you for the way you are," he told him wisely. "You shouldn't have to change or be someone else, for anyone. If Hikari-san doesn't see that," he lowered his voice a bit, not really wanting to finish the statement, "then maybe she isn't the right girl for you, especially if you feel you need to be more like Takeru-san to get her interested in you."

Daisuke seemed to frown even more; Ken got the feeling that he hadn't taken in a word he'd said.

"Well, um, you know, there are plenty of fish in the sea, so the saying goes."

Daisuke began to toss the ball up and down in his hands. "I just need the right bait to hook that fish, and the only fish that I'm after, is Hikari-chan."

"You're one of the most well-known guys in school since you're such a good soccer player, and lots of girls admire you...erm...probably."

"Who cares," the boy retorted stubbornly "It's the girl I think I've fallen in love with, that I want attention from."

"Wha-? In love?" Ken scratched his head. Daisuke was worse off than even _he_ imagined. 'So it seems that Hikari-san has broken his heart, as well as his spirit, and the reason he seems to be avoiding her compared to the rest of us, is because it's become too painful for him to face her. The bad thing is that she probably doesn't even realize that her unintentional rejection is the key to his bad mood. I'm sure he'll get over it, but he seems too far into it _to_ get over it anytime soon. It's still surprising that Motomiya admitted that he's in love with her. I couldn't imagine being in love with anyone...yet.'

"I hate to make everyone worry," the boy tossed the ball aside towards the rack, but didn't land in it, not that he cared, "so I guess I'll go down there now."

"You don't have to; they're bringing the pizza and snacks to school." Daisuke obliviously grimaced at the thought of having to face Hikari once again, with Takeru by her side. "Look, I know how you feel, Daisuke, but you just can't disassociate yourself from Hikari-san just because you feel you've lost her to another guy. Those two are just really good friends."

Daisuke indignantly scoffed as he threw his arms up into the air in disbelief over the ex-Kaiser's words. "How could you know how I feel? You've never had a thing for a girl like I have. I think my crush on her has really turned into love! This is the only thing it _can_ be."

"I know how you feel about the being ignored by someone you admire part, somewhat," Ken muttered quickly, without even realizing it.

"Wait, what'd you say?"

After realizing what he'd said, he felt it was best to change the subject, and fast, as even he couldn't explain it. "H-how exactly _did_ you and Hikari-san meet for you to like her as much as you do, and for as long as you have? You've never mentioned it to me."

Daisuke's harsh expression slightly lifted and he started smiling as the memory came back to him fresh. He sat down on the gym's smooth floor. Ken did so as well; he figured that this was going to be a long story. After both were comfortable, Ken nodded to him, and Daisuke began the long tale of how both he and Hikari first met.

"*Well, let's see. I first met her directly when I was nine. We were paired up for some type of school project, and we both got along very well. We ended up talking about soccer, and I told her about how I was planning on trying out for our district's kid's team. At the time, I was already in our school's soccer club. She said that she was going to go to the tryouts too, but that she was only going to watch.

"That afternoon, I hurried to the soccer field for the tryouts. I practiced a lot since I wanted to show the coach that I was ready for anything that he threw at me. I wanted to play just as good as the great Yagami Taichi-senpai! I'd always heard a lot about him, and I'd seen him play. He was the best player I'd ever seen! He was in the soccer club with me, and he was always very nice to me. He was also the one who encouraged me to get my own set of goggles; the ones I wore before he gave me his."

To Ken, Daisuke's expression seemed to grow bothered. "Daisuke; is something wrong?"

He shook his head, and continued. "Before the tryouts started, and before the coach got there, these sixth-grade boys started to bully me just because they were older. They kept telling me that I was worthless, and that a runt like me didn't belong on their team. It wasn't _my_ fault that I was small."

Ken shook his head in disgust. "I will never understand bullies' motives. What happened next?"

A dreamy look formed on Daisuke's round, tan face now. He seemed to be at ease, and quite peaceful. "Hikari-chan came up and defended me. I was really surprised. She told them that I had just as much of a chance of making the team as they did. I got teased badly after that, but I was really happy because no one had ever stood up for me before."

"That was really nice of her."

He smiled and nodded in agreement. "After the tryouts, I ended up getting into a really bad fight with one of the bullies since I couldn't keep my big mouth shut. I lost big time. I couldn't compare with a 12 year old. Hikari-chan, and some other people, surrounded us as we fought. I don't remember what happened too much after that, but it was broken up by someone and when I woke up, I was in the nurse's room. Sitting in a chair beside my bed, was Hikari-chan. She told me that the bullies got into a lot of trouble for picking on me and were all disqualified from the team and future try-outs. When the nurse said it was okay for me to go, Hikari-chan ended up helping me since I was still a bit sore, and said that I did a great job at the tryouts. We walked home after that.

"Since we reached her place first, she asked if I wanted any drinks and snacks for a job well done at the tryouts."

"Even back then, Hikari-san was kind."

"Yeah, she was," he nodded again. "Her mother gave us some sweet cakes and juice. We talked while eating, and we found it funny how we'd never really talked to each other before. We've always had the same classes; even before that project we were assigned. After the snack, I thanked her mother and went home.

"After I got home, I couldn't get her off of my mind. I kept thinking about how she stood up for me, and how she was a good friend. Year in and year out, I started to admire her more and more. By the time I was 11, I had a crush on her and secretly hoped that she would become my girlfriend someday.

"Anyway, Hikari-chan also helped to build up my confidence back then when I tried out for the soccer team. I didn't think I'd do all that great, but she convinced me to continue on and try."

"What exactly did she say to build up your confidence?"

"During that walk, she told me that I was a good player, but then gave me a cute, playful smile, and added that I just wasn't as good as her older brother. She seemed to highly respect him. She convinced me to believe in myself, and to keep on trying, and I did just that.

"The funny thing about the whole situation was that I didn't realize that her family name was '八神 (Yagami)' and that her older brother was none other than Taichi-san! I mean, I knew it, I just didn't know they were related. He was the one who broke up the fight that day, but I didn't notice it since that kid ended up knocking me out after the punch to the stomach. After he got me to the nurse, he left along with Sora-san and other members of the soccer club, and when we got to the Yagami place, he wasn't there. I also asked her why she stood up for me, and she said something like, 'Oniichan would've done it.'"

Ken smiled. "It seems that you and Hikari-san were pretty good friends."

The soccer player's look grew dark, as the last part of his story came out. "Yeah, we were until one of the most terrible things happened! Takeru showed up! After that, things changed. The way Hikari-chan laughs with him is the way she used to laugh with me. It's terrible, this feeling. It's worse enough to be rejected by the girl you love, but it feels even worse when she ignores you as a friend."

"Wow, what a history you two have. Hikari-san was the first girl to treat you nicely. I guess something like that _would_ have some sort of an impact."

"Ken, I don't know what to do," he sighed, his head drooping. "It's just that _every_ time I see her, it hurts me because I just think of her with Takeru. I feel like I have to force myself to greet her whenever I see her, _especially_ when she's with him."

"I just don't know what to say to something like that."

"Don't," the goggle-boy interrupted, "I know Takeru likes Hikari-chan too. Maybe he didn't in the beginning, but it's obvious that he does now."

Ken shuffled uneasily. He knew that this was true, but usually went out of his way to avoid mentioning something like that. He felt it was best to just stay out of it.

"You haven't noticed those love-struck looks he sometimes gives her?!" he asked in disbelief, his head perked up. "The way he's extra nice when around her? The annoyingly charming way he acts towards her? The way he always tries to comfort her whenever she _does_ get upset? I can't compete with that!"

Ken remained silent. He had no idea what to say, or what advice he could offer to the boy. He really didn't want to get on the subject of Takeru's possibly liking Hikari. It just made him feel extremely awkward, especially since he was a good friend to both of the boys. He wanted to remain neutral. "I still think you're over-reacting a little, but, like you said, I can't compare what I'm going through with what you're going through. The problem I have is nothing like yours."

"I didn't say anything like that."

"Wait...um, I...er..." the boy's face started to go red.

Daisuke stood up, giving the boy a crafty look. "What problems are _you_ having? _Girl_ problems?"

"Motomiya, it's nothing. Wh-what makes you s-say that?"

"Aha! You _are_ having girl problems! The heartthrob of Odaiba Junior High is having girl troubles! C'mon, who's the girl and what's the problem!"

Before Ken could think of a lie, he grew apprehensive. Something just didn't feel right to him. He then felt a blast of air come from someplace. "Did you feel something just now?"

Ken stood up; Daisuke crossed his arms and shook his head with a shifty grin. "Uh-uh, Ichijouji, don't try to change the subject now. I told you what was bothering me, even though it sorta just gushed out, so now it's your turn!"

"No, I'm serious. I thought I felt a blast of air just now, but it was...different somehow."

Right at that moment, the entire gym seemed to fill with a powerful wind that was coming from no place. Both boys looked quite perplexed at this. "Did someone leave a window open?" asked Daisuke, as he moved some of his now, messy hair from out of his face.

"No," Ken pushed some of his shoulder-lengthened hair back and looked up, "the windows are all closed."

"Then where is this wind coming from!?"

The next thing to grasp their attention was the hoop Daisuke had been shooting baskets in. The hoop began to glow, and a weird funnel was beginning to form from it. Both knew that this couldn't be good, and ran across the gym, towards the doors. When Ken entered the gym, he had left the doors open; they were now closed and locked.

"Since _when_ do doors close and lock on their own!" Daisuke screamed in panic.

"That doesn't matter! We have to get out of here! That thing is coming towards u-ahhh!"

A bright light had filled the room, blinding the boys, causing them to shield their eyes.

"Th-that light! It's too bright! What's going on, Ken?!"

"I don't know; I can't see a thing! Where is it coming from?!"

Before either one of them could do remotely anything, both were sucked into the bright vortex...

Author's Notes

Note 1: In the original episode where Daisuke introduced Ken to his family, his father did pretty much say that Daisuke was "stupid", but not in the sense that Daisuke has no ounce of sense what-so-ever, but more so referring to the boy's school work never being all that decent. When they found out about "the boy genius" being friends with Daisuke, his father said something along the lines of, "You can help my stupid son with his school work."  
x x x  
Note 2: This is more so a statement in reference to how Daisuke met the Yagami siblings. I know that isn't the way Taichi and Daisuke met, but the rest of it is true. Both _were_ in the Odaiba Elementary Soccer Club and that's how they knew one another directly. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how Sora knew Daisuke as well. In episode 1 of 02, when Taichi mentioned that Daisuke was in the Digital World and such, Sora instantly knew that he was a part of the Odaiba Elementary Soccer Club. That makes me wonder if Koushirou knew him as well, since he too was, surprisingly, in the soccer club with Sora and Taichi, which is how those three knew each other prior to their adventure in 01. After being in the club with Taichi and Sora, he later switched to the Computer Club and became President of it in his final year.

Daisuke did end up remembering seeing Taichi fighting against Vamdemon and admired him then as well because of his bravery. That aside, I also hate when people go on to say that Daisuke only liked Hikari because she's Taichi's younger sister. I honestly _never_ got that impression and felt that he generally liked her and that his crush had just grown stronger as the years went by. I also got the impression that they somehow managed to get the same class every year, which wouldn't be too surprising since that seems to be the case with some schools. You end up with the same kids every year in your class.

Oh, and adding on, for the original, Daisuke's crush was very normal for a kid his age. Unlike "Davis", who feels like an entirely different character to me anyway. Daisuke never went around declaring that Hikari was his girl or any of that nonsense.


	6. Drama on the Tennis Court

Hey again all. Here's the next chapter for you, and compared to the previous ones, this is pretty short. It's all about our favorite athletes of the group. I hope you all enjoy it and I`m sorry about taking so long to update this.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with this series; Bandai and Toei have that honor.

Chapter 06: "空の秘密な生活だ!"  
"Sora no himitsu na seikatsu da!"  
"Sora's secret life!" Taichi & Sora's Drama on the Tennis Court…

"Take that!" the 16-year-old Taichi cried, hitting a tennis ball back at his opponent.

"You think I would miss such an easy shot," the 16-year-old Sora laughed shortly, as she smacked the ball right back at the soccer player.

"I'm going to beat you if it kills me!" he breathed out hard as he just barely made the save.

"Aww, Taichi, I like having a partner to practice with," Sora teased as she gracefully returned the serve.

Taichi lunged after the tennis ball, but ended up missing.

"Point goes to Takenouchi," a stocky man announced from his shady chair on the sidelines. "The score is now 40-30; Takenouchi only needs one more good play to win this game."

"Sora, I _won't_ let you win!"

"You know I will," She replied confidently. "I've beaten you two times already and it's still my serve!"

Both Taichi and Sora were in their first year at Odaiba High School. Taichi still played soccer, but would sometimes play tennis thanks to Sora's persuading him into it. She even talked him into unofficially joining their coed Tennis Club, with special permission. He was pretty much an average player, not a "genius", like he was at soccer. As for Sora, she excelled at tennis and had grown to like it a lot more than soccer and rarely played the sport anymore for fun. The last time she'd played it competitively was her last year of elementary school.

Taichi, who still had his signature big hair, had grown quite a bit over the years, but was still slightly shorter than Yamato. He was a bit more humble and not as fiery as he once was, as he would now look before he leaped, given his maturity. As for girls, the boy was a bit naïve when it came to them.

As for Sora, she had grown as well. She was still motherly towards her younger friends and had become quite graceful and feminine.

As of the moment, Taichi was helping Sora practice for an upcoming match she had the very next afternoon. Sora, as usual, elegantly served the ball, but Taichi managed to return the serve just barely. Sora then smacked the ball hard, and it went soaring past Taichi, who had missed it by millimeters, which gave her the winning point.

"Game goes to Takenouchi!"

"Yeah!" the teen cheered, pumping her fist up into the air.

Both walked to the middle of the court. The boy put out his hand, out of breath. "Wow...good...game, So...ra. You've really...been practicing."

"Yep, I sure have," she nodded while accepting the boy's hand. "I have to get ready for my upcoming match. This is the best practice I've had in a while."

Taichi gave her a playful grin. "You _do_ know that you owe me, right?"

"I know, I know. You help me with my tennis and I practice soccer with you since you have some new plays in mind that you want to present to the team."

"You two, I have to head in," their coach informed them, making his way onto the court. "You two can keep practicing if you'd like, though."

"Yes, Yamamoto-sensei."

"You keep that up, and we'll get into the tournament for sure; especially you, Miss Takenouchi. Your skills are absolutely remarkable; your transcript from Odaiba Junior High was quite accurate. I'm just glad that I was able to witness it for myself. It's an honor to have you in our club this year. As for you, Mr. Yagami, it's a shame you're not a part of the club. For a soccer genius, you're pretty good for a novice tennis player."

The two bowed and thanked him for his kind words.

"School let out a good while ago, and I do have some things to take care of. You can stay for about an hour longer before everything here is closed up."

"Yes sir."

"Keep on practicing, now, and we'll definitely get that victory tomorrow. I really wish some of the other members were as serious as you, Miss Takenouchi," the man called to them, as he walked off.

"So, Taichi, are you up for another game?"

"Yeah, sure, even though you're the star player."

"Okay, let's go."

The two took their positions and the game commenced. Taichi played a bit better this time, but Sora was still beating him effortlessly. "Your serve, Taichi, but do you have any idea what time it is?"

Taichi looked up at the school's clock-tower. "Looks like it's almost 17:30 (5:30)," he answered while dribbling the tennis ball with his racket. "Why do you want to know? We can still hang around for about another hour since Yamamoto-sensei gave us permission to, even though no sports clubs are meeting this week and school ended early today."

"Um, no reason," she answered hastily. "Go on, serve."

Taichi, deciding not to waste anymore time, tossed the ball into the air, and hit it fiercely, causing it to soar over the net. It was one of the best serves he'd ever made. He blinked in stupidity when he saw Sora swing and miss. He understood that it was a good serve, but it was odd that she'd missed it in general.

"I'm sorry," Sora apologized. "Let's try that again."

He nodded, and made another excellent serve, but Sora continuously missed every time he served anything, the final one being atrociously awful. She seemed to be distracted by the clock-tower. "C'mon, Sora, I want a challenge!"

"I'm sorry...I'm just a little pressed for time. I have to hurry and go."

"Why are you in a hurry?"

"No reason," she answered, anxiously. "How about we quit for the day? I've practiced enough, and I _am_ a bit tired."

"Yeah, sure." Taichi stared at the girl, curious as to how Sora had gone from an elite player to a mediocre one in just mere minutes.

The two headed to the sidelines, where their bags sat. Sora went through her bag and pulled out a water bottle, Taichi did the same. While Sora drank, she kept glancing up at the clock-tower.

"Since when did you become 'Miss Punctuality'?"

"You're silly."

"Then how come you seem to be obsessed with the time all of a sudden."

"W-well, it's just that I have to be someplace by 18:00 (6:00) is all and now I'm going to be late since I wanted to keep practicing."

After swallowing some water, Taichi stared up at the clock. It was just a little past 17:30 (5:30). "Where?"

"Why are you so concerned?" she snapped at him defensively.

" _Sorry_. I didn't know you were so private," he indignantly replied in slight annoyance. "You _normally_ tell me everything."

"Well, it _is_ a bit private, and one day, I hope to share this with you."

Taichi inwardly sighed, as he had an idea as to why she was so willing to rush off. 'I wonder when she's going to tell me about it. I already know about her secret dates that she runs off for every chance she gets. It's bothering me that she's keeping this from me...I just wish she'd confess it.'

"Taichi, what's wrong? You went quiet."

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering about something."

"What about?" She took another sip from her water bottle.

"Yamato."

Sora nearly choked, and gave off a small cough. "What _about_ him?"

"He's been acting a bit differently lately. Haven't you noticed?" He gave the girl a knowing look. Sora grew a bit more apprehensive, mentally preparing herself for anything Taichi would throw at her. "He seems to run off a lot, even on days when he doesn't have practice with his band and he's obviously not busy with after-school clubs, since he's not in any since he has his group. Do you have any idea why?"

"I-I have no idea," she squeaked out uneasily.

"Whatever," the boy muttered, ignoring the fact that Sora, once again, had lied to him over such an issue. "So, what are you doing this weekend?"

"Nothing too much." She regained some of her composure, not wanting to give off that she was currently nervous around the boy she'd known for practically her entire life. "Just participating in that upcoming match, and then attending that concert at Tokyo Dome for the Teenage Wolves' concert that night." A dreamy smile appeared on her face, as she anticipated her tennis match. "I am _so_ glad that we're going to play singles instead of doubles. There's nothing wrong with doubles, but it's hard to find the perfect partner, you know?"

"Yeah, I can understand that..." He heaved out an unintentional loud, gloomy sigh. "You think you find the right person, and you truly feel that you are the right person for the other person, but then you find out that you, apparently, aren't right for the other person, since the other person has already made her choice, even if she, herself, doesn't realize that the other person from the very beginning, could possibly be the right choice."

"Huh?" she blinked. 'What's with all that deep, philosophical talking?'

"Nothing, nothing. I was just rambling."

"Why did you ask anyway? You _are_ coming to my match, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't miss it! You were chosen to represent our entire club to go against the representative from that senior high school over in Asao." He gave her a big, hopeful grin. "After your match, since I know you're going to win, how about I take you out?"

"Wow, me and the entire club?" Sora exclaimed, surprised at the soccer player's offer. "That's really nice of you, but-"

"No, no. I was thinking along the lines of just you and me, not the entire club." He gave off a bashful laugh, resting his hand on the back of his head. "I'm not rich, you know. I can't treat all of them."

'I can't let him do that. I was planning on meeting up with him afterwards, right before that concert. I know that I should really tell Taichi and the others know about this, but I'm not ready to yet...'

"Sora?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Just had something on my mind." She stared down at the ground, and remained quiet for a brief moment. Sora finally looked up at Taichi; she felt that he of all people should know of her secret. "Taichi," she began slowly, "I have something to tell you. It's my real reason as to why I'm in such a hurry."

"What is it?" he asked anxiously. 'She's about to make me feel worse than I already do. She's probably going to finally come clean about her secretly dating? I still wonder, why is she keeping this secret anyway? We've been through so much more together than she has with him. I've known her longer, and we were even friends before we moved from Hikarigaoka (Heighton View Terrace). She's the only person I knew from there before that battle with Parrotmon and the giant Greymon. We have more of a history together than she does with him...but _why_ did she choose him?'

"No, I-I think I'll wait. I probably shouldn't tell you yet. It wouldn't be fair to him. We promised we'd share this together." She kneeled down, and picked up her gym bag, tossing it over her right shoulder. "Well, I better get going." She turned her back to Taichi, almost regrettably, and started to walk off. 'I'm already later than I wanted to be, and I won't have the time to change. I hope he doesn't mind.'

Not wanting to let the girl go without a confession, Taichi ran up to her and held her back. "Sora, wait!"

"Huh, wha?"

"Stop. I know what's going on with you, and I already know what your secret is." He let go of her arm, and stared down at the ground grudgingly. "Takeru told me, since he already knew. At the time, he didn't know that I wasn't supposed to know. He was coming over to get an assignment from Hikari, but she wasn't home because she was out with a friend from school. We started to talk a bit, and he randomly brought it up.

"He went home, but later on that day, he called me back to let me know that he messed up by telling me. He wasn't supposed to have told me what he had, so I promised him that I'd go along with this until someone confesses and to keep him from getting into trouble with the one _you're_ keeping quiet about. I don't want Takeru to get any heat for betraying his trust."

"Wh-what?" Sora stated in disbelief. 'He told Takeru-kun?' It was growing dark and cloudy overhead, as well as windy. "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about," Sora stated quickly, trying to walk off again.

Taichi ran after Sora and stood in front of her, a look of deceit on his usually jolly face. "Sora, stop making a fool of me!"

She shook her head at him. "You know I would _never_ do that!"

"I already know what's going on!"

Sora had finally taken notice of the dark clouds and the unusual high winds. "A storm is coming; we should go inside now."

"There you go again, trying to change the subject!" he stubbornly replied. He refused to leave until the matter was resolved. He had taken Sora's secret of her love-life, for the very last time. He really didn't understand why it bothered him so much, other than his wanting to be in the other guy's place. "I know that you're secretly dating-"

"No, Taichi, I'm serious! Look at the sky."

Taichi looked up, and saw all of the dark, murky clouds above. The wind had now grown so strong, that his normal up-in-the-air hair was actually blown back. "Oh, seems like you're right. I guess a storm is coming. We can talk inside. Let's go."

All of a sudden, just like with Hikari and Takeru, a strange funnel began to form, and a big light flashed.

"This is no ordinary storm," Sora murmured as she shielded her eyes.

Before them, it seemed as if a tornado was forming right there on the tennis court, and there was lightening striking everywhere. One bolt seemed to strike far off into the distance near where Yamato's father worked; the Fuji TV Station.

More lightening bolts seemed to fly from the funnel; both stared on, completely mesmerized, until one of them unexpectedly struck Sora. Taichi stared on in alarm, as the girl screamed, dropping her bag to the ground. The funnel seemed to be drawn to her, like a magnet to metal, as it pulled her in. Before he could think of what to do next, the exact same thing happened to him. He saw Sora, and tried to reach out to her, but failed, as both ended up separated...

Fic Chapter Changes

Originally, Taichi was a part-time member of the Tennis Club, but I decided to drop that as it's not at all very likely since sports clubs are very time-consuming so I doubt he'd have time, or permission, to do both soccer and tennis.

I changed the teacher's name from Akuma to Yamamoto.


	7. Library Abductions

Well, here's another chapter for you all. Just bear with me a little bit longer. There's only a couple of more chapters worth of abductions left: Yamato and Iori, and then the _real_ plot starts up. Not much I can really say for this chapter, other than there being a flashback for it and another introduction of an original character. She's not really significant to the plot. She's just a girl that goes to school with Jou. Her character is pretty much generic for me, as I've used her in other fics of mine with pretty much the same background information, give or take a few changes.

Oh yeah, going back to the flashback, I should warn you about it. It`s pretty long and it involves an out of character Koushirou creeping out Jou, yet giving his older friend some wise advice. You'll see what I mean when you get to it. I hope it amuses you in the way that I'm anticipating, but it`s not necessary to fully read. You can skip right over it if you want to hurry and get to Jou`s abduction. Actually, one of the reasons it took me so long to update this chapter was due to my having a tough time deciding whether or not I should`ve dropped the flashback. In the end, I decided to keep it in.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the anime, manga, games, etc., of Digimon. Toei and Bandai have that right, for the most part.

Chapter 07: "えっ?! 学校の図書館にデジタールゲートがあるの? 何これ!?"  
" _Ee_?! Gakkou no toshokan ni DEJITAARU GEETO ga aru no? Nani kore!?"  
" _Eh_?! There's a Digital Gate in the school library? What _is_ this!?" Jou's Biological Journey!

"*I hate writing long reports," Jou muttered in extreme annoyance. "I'll _never_ finish all of this research in time!"

The now 17-year-old, Kido Jou, was sitting in his school's library. It was pretty secluded, as he was the only one there aside from the librarian behind the desk. *He still attended a private school, which held both junior and high-school students. Due to this, Jou didn't have to worry about taking entrance exams to get into high school, like the others, but he made up for that with all of the difficult school work that was expected of him and the other students from his instructors.

"I had a feeling that I would find you here," a girl giggled playfully. "Don't wear yourself out, Jou-san."

The boy looked up, curious as to who had addressed him. He saw a girl wearing a uniform similar to his. "Oh, hi there, Malissa-san."

The soon to be 17-year-old Malissa Smith was a pretty good friend of the math & science whiz; although, as the days went by, she was growing to be more so a love interest to him, he was just too shy to even attempt asking her out or pursuing a relationship with her. The American girl moved from Florida to Tokyo about a year ago with her family due to her father's job. He was a financial consultant, and got transferred to his company's Japanese branch, and her half-Japanese mother was a doctor.

When meeting, the two seemed to become instant friends. She had long, dark brown hair and pretty, clear-brown eyes which Jou simply loved. She was very nice and polite, and enjoyed playing sports, volleyball and swimming being two of her favorites.

Out of the other Chosen Children currently living in Japan, Jou had the best grasp of English and excelled in his English class, *Ken coming in a very close second. Miyako, *Iori, and Koushirou would come next, but they just knew enough to get by, although, Koushirou was better at reading and translating it than actually speaking it. Out of all of them in general, though, Mimi would top them all since she'd been living in America for the past three years or so. Mimi still had her trouble, where slang and expressions spoken by her peers were concerned, but that was pretty much the only barrier for her now. She could still hold a general conversation with her classmates in English.

Malissa sat across from Jou, setting her books down. "Are you still working on that report of yours?"

He nodded. "Why did that science teacher of mine pick such a difficult topic," Jou grimaced while holding his head in frustration. "Why in the world does she have to be so illogical and unreasonable?!"

"Back home, whenever a teacher would do that, it was just the teacher`s way of challenging you. You're one of the smartest students in your year. She's just trying her best to intimidate you. As smart as you are, I bet you could teach her Biology/Anatomy class yourself." She laughed a bit. "I'm sure it's really bothering crabby old Professor Tomiya that you could be possibly smarter than she is."

Jou gave her a small smile, his spirits lifting slightly. "Thanks, although, I doubt I'm smarter than her."

"Jou-san, it's getting late. Why not rest for a while? School let out almost two hours ago."

He looked over at the girl, really wanting to take her up on the offer, but knew that it wouldn't be possible. "I'm sorry, but I _really_ have to finish working on this. I want to finish it so that I can do absolutely nothing this weekend, especially since I'm off from my part-time job tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday."

"All right, but at least have dinner with me. I could cook something for you; some fine, American cuisine, and I won't take no for an answer, Jou Kido!" She smiled sweetly to him. "My parents are going out to some benefit dinner, my goofy ten-year-old brother, James, is staying the night at a friend's place, and my fourteen-year-old sister, Jerri, is going out to karaoke and a sleep over with friends. I'll have the entire place to myself. I would hate to sit there alone; besides, you could always do your homework there. I could even help you."

Jou weighed her words, thinking over the offer. He soon nodded. "Okay, I'll join you for dinner." He smacked his forehead and frowned. "Oh wait, I can't."

"Juku?" He nodded. "I find it amazing how you can go to regular school, and then rush off to cram school, and hold down a part-time job at the same time through this school. How on earth do you manage?"

"I've been going to cram school ever since I was in elementary school, so it's not much of a big deal now. I've gotten used to it, but the part-time job makes it a little difficult to go to everyday, unless I just stay later, which is why I'm only employed there on the weekend and it is run through the school, *so it's allowed for me to work there without breaking any rules. The juku I go to lets out at about 10:00."

"In America, we don't really have cram schools, but we do have summer schools. Summer school is usually for students who are making up courses they failed during the year, or for those who want to get ahead of their class to graduate early." She reached over and grabbed Jou's hand. "You can miss just one day, can't you?"

"But-"

"Please?"

Jou turned his head slightly, feeling his cheeks going somewhat red from gazing at the young girl. He just couldn't bring himself to say, "no". "I guess it wouldn't hurt to miss one day of lectures and mock university entrance exams."

"That's the spirit! You could use a break."

"I have to go look up one more thing before I do anything." Jou took out a piece of paper, and wrote a call number down on it.

"What's that?"

"I have to look for this particular Biology book before I can leave. I'm sure that in it, I can actually find out who made the discovery of how blood flows and circulates throughout the body."

"Okay, I'll wait here for you."

'Of all the stupid topics to get stuck with, I had to get assigned, The History of Blood Flow! That's nowhere _near_ normal for a report topic!'

"Doesn't this library scare you a little, Jou-san?" Malissa shivered. "It's so old-looking, and just seems like it could be haunted."

"I never really thought much of it, although, when I first started this school years ago, I _was_ a bit apprehensive coming here." He glanced around the ancient library and its tall book cases. "It does seem a bit old, doesn't it?"

Malissa snatched the paper in Jou's hand, reading off the call number. "Jou-san, are you sure about this book? It's in the most isolated and secluded part of the library."

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. I can handle looking for a book."

She handed him back the slip of paper. "Hey, how long have we been friends?"

"I'd say about a year and a half."

"A _wonderful_ year and a half, if you ask me. I can't believe my family's been here for that long. I'm glad that my parents put my sister and me in this school instead of *ASIJ or some other school; I don't understand how my parents actually managed to get out of not putting us into that school or one similar, since it's more suitable for us, but I'm not complaining. If they hadn't, we would've never met."

"Very true, although, this school is known for having lots of international students and foreigners, so it's not that much of a difference, probably, from ASIJ. The only difference is just that the classes aren't fully taught in English here, 'cept for advanced English language."

"I just knew I wouldn't make any friends here, but you were nice enough to make an attempt to. It's also ironic how much meaning this library has, since it's where we first met."

"I was studying for something, when I saw you. You looked a bit down, so I decided to introduce myself to you. It would've been rude not to."

That was part of the reason Jou approached the girl. He had seen her around the campus a few times, and was instantly attracted to her. He noticed that she spent a lot of time in the library alone and kept trying to bring himself to go to her, but could never get the nerve to. Luckily, he discussed the matter with a certain redhead who, surprisingly, gave him the encouragement he needed to introduce himself to the girl...

* * *

 _In the Izumi home, the phone rang, and was answered by the computer genius, Koushirou._

 _"Moshi-moshi."_

 _"Hi, Koushirou. What's up?"_

 _Koushirou gasped at the sound of the older boy`s voice. "I can't believe it! The university-bound genius finally has enough free time to call one of his old friends!"_

 _"Very funny."_

 _Koushirou sat down at his computer and began typing. "So, what's the problem, Jou-san? Do you need help with your computer homework again?"_

 _"Oh no, nothing like that," Jou trailed off while fiddling with his telephone's cord. Skeptically, he said, "I just need some advice."_

 _"Advice? From me?"_

 _"Y-yeah." Jou was growing more and more nervous over revealing such information. "I kind of, sorta, really need advice about girls."_

 _"Shouldn't you be asking Taichi-san or Yamato-san about something like that?" Koushirou asked in a puzzling voice. "Both of them have more experience with girls than I do... **way** more in fact. I wouldn't be surprised if both Takeru-kun and Daisuke-kun had more experience than I. I've never even been out with a girl in 'that way'."_

 _"I would rather not talk to them about this. They would probably exaggerate or tease me and not offer any real help at all," he seriously stated, "besides, you're more mature compared to those two at times and I really don't want to talk to Daisuke-kun or Takeru-kun."_

 _"I guess I'll take that as a compliment." Koushirou smugly grinned in spite of himself. "What advice do you think I could offer you? I'm no expert on this particular subject, but I will try to assist you as best as I possibly can."_

 _"Thanks. Now, there's this new girl at my school, and..." Jou went on to describe Malissa to the younger boy._

 _"She sounds like a very nice person," he complimented after Jou had finished._

 _"I always see her in the library by herself. I don't know how I should go up to her, though, or if I should even bother going at all."_

 _"Maybe my computer could bring up some information on what you should do."_

 _"I'm serious!"_

 _"J-just kidding," Koushirou replied with a sweat drop. He lowered the browser window on his screen. He wasn't joking; he was literally going to find the information through a search engine._

 _"So what do you suggest I do?"_

 _Koushirou thought for a moment - wishing he could just look it up on the net - and snapped his fingers. Jou heard the snap. "Did you come up with something? I'm curious what you think."_

 _"My advice to you, Jou-san, is to just talk to her. Try being her friend if she's as new as you say she is. I'm sure she could use a friend as opposed to a boyfriend, and from there, just let nature run its course. Eventually, your relationship will blossom. After the two of you become **really** good friends, then try asking her out and see if it was meant to be."_

 _Jou's jaw dropped. Koushirou sounded like he was an expert on the subject. The advice itself wasn't want surprised him most...it was the fact that the advice had come from the guy who claimed to lack experience when it came to girls..._

 _"Where in the world did you get that from?!"_

 _"I was watching Romantic Teen Dramas with Miyako-kun again," Koushirou bashfully replied._

 _"Again?" The line went silent for a brief moment. The silence was soon broken by Jou's hysterical laughter. " **You**?! **Teen** dramas!?"_

 _"Let's not tell anyone about this now," the younger boy shushed._

 _Jou continued to laugh boisterously. He was finding this incredibly hard to believe, but amusing all the same. "Why would you watch something like that?" he gasped between breaths._

 _"Miyako-kun wanted to watch them when she was here, so I told her she could."_

 _Before Jou could respond, Koushirou did something that was even more "un-koushirou" like and began to ramble on about how he'd fallen victim to Teen Dramas._

 _"The drama she had me watching, the character, Takeshi-san, just tried what I suggested to you a few episodes ago. It showed to be successful because Takeshi-san, and the exchange student from Australia, Meagan-san, are doing very well right now, but to make that worse, the best friend of Takeshi-san, Ryo-san, is in love with Meagan-san, but is dating Ami-san! Another twist is that Ami-san doesn't really love Ryo-san, and isn't really dating Ryo-san, but his twin brother, Ryu-san!_

 _"They look incredibly alike, but the bad thing about Meagan-san is that in the more recent episodes of the drama, Takeshi-san is falling out of love with Meagan-san and now has eyes for another girl by the name of Kiki-san, who is the younger sister of Meagan-san!"_

 _Jou was about to give his input, but Koushirou didn't give him the opportunity to._

 _"But that isn't all!" he continued, excitement ringing in his voice, "the mother of both Kiki-san and Meagan-san is getting sick, and the doctors can't figure out why. It's because she's psychic and can read fortunes. She is getting even sicklier because she senses something bad is going to happen to Meagan-san. Oh, I can't **wait** to see what happens next!"_

 _"Um...y-yeah..." Jou muttered with a sweat drop, his eyes closed and twitching._

 _"Marmalade Boy is good too!" Jou couldn't believe he was getting started again. "We're watching the Chinese Drama of that, and it's so great! We had an anime of it, but I like watching this live version more! Miyako-kun is bringing over the DVDs of the anime so that I can watch it all…or maybe I could have Miyako-kun search around at old manga shops for me._

 _"The main character of the series, Miki-san, has so many guy problems! Her best guy friend, Ginta-san, has a crush on her, but can't admit it. Miki-san seems to have mixed feelings, especially since the two have such a history together. She also seems to have feelings for her new brother, Yuu. I bet you're wondering how she could actually like her own brother in such a way."_

 _Jou was about to reply with a, "No, not really", in hopes of getting off the topic, but the redhead just continued on._

 _"Well, in the first episode, the parents of Miki-san told her that they didn't love each other anymore and went on to say that they both had found someone else. It was another married couple, and they were going to swap partners. The other couple had a son about the same age as Miki-san named Yuu._

 _"Everyone now lives together at Miki's home, and Yuu-kun ended up transferring to her school. She doesn't agree to this swapping thing between the adults, but Yuu-kun doesn't seem to care either way."_

 _"Koushirou?"_

 _"Right now, no one else knows that both Miki-san and Yuu-kun are step-siblings sharing the same home, except for the best friend of Miki-san. Oh, and speaking of her best friend, she has her share of problems as well. She's a popular, pretty girl by the name of Meiko-san, but she doesn't have a boyfriend, which is pretty strange given her popularity and beauty. Yuu-kun, though, finds out that she is having a relationship with their teacher, Namura-sensei!_

 _"Yuu-kun caught them kissing in the library when he was hiding from Ginta-san, who really dislikes Yuu-kun. To make the situation even more ironic, both thought the library was empty, and Namura-sensei snuck out of the library window!"_

 _"Kooooshirou..."_

 _"After Namura-sensei left, Yuu-kun left his hiding spot, and told Meiko-san that he saw, but promised that he wouldn't tell. For where Miyako-kun and I are of the anime, I feel sorry for Ginta's character right now."_

 _"Koushirou!"_

 _"When it was his turn to stay back for classroom duty, along with Miki-san, Ginta-kun took a chance and kissed her, which showed to be a **huge** mistake! She smacked him and then ran off. Their friendship hasn't been the same since then._

 _"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about Arimi-san, the ex-girlfriend of Yuu-kun, who shows up unexpectedly!"_

 _Jou sweat dropped - still surprised that Koushirou had ignored him for so long - pretending he didn't just hear all that Koushirou had gone on about, or the bits he could get since he was rambling the majority of the time, running his words together._

 _"That all sounds interesting, Koushirou, but I-"_

 _"Ooh, Miyako-kun ought to be coming over soon for us to watch more of Marmalade Boy's anime. I can't wait to see what happens next! Oh **why** didn't I watch this show when it originally aired years ago on Fuji TV?!"_

 _'He actually sounds like he **enjoys** that type of stuff...' Jou blinked, quite dumb-founded. He had to stray away from this incredibly dull, and disturbing topic. "Maybe I should try what you recommended; she does look like she could use a good friend or an acquaintance."_

 _"Yeah, it should help."_

 _"Do you think you'll ever try out your own advice someday?"_

 _"I already am," he obliviously murmured._

 _"What did you say?"_

 _"Nothing, nothing at all!" he answered while sweating due to his current, extreme embarrassment. "I didn't say anything."_

 _"I know my ears aren't bad. I'm certain that I heard you say, 'I already am', meaning that you **do** have an interest in something other than your computer and programming."_

 _"I don't know what you're talking about. Th-that's ridiculous."_

 _"Who is it?" Jou demanded, continuing on with his interrogation. "Is it anyone I know? You can tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone."_

 _"I don't know if I really should," Koushirou replied shyly._

 _Jou smirked, coming up with a sure-fire way of getting the computer nerd to talk. "If you don't tell me who it is, I will **accidentally** mention to Taichi that you watch Teen Dramas and shoujo anime, read shoujo manga, and actually **enjoy** them!"_

 _"No, no! Anything but that! Don't tell Taichi-san that! He'll never let me hear the end of it!"_

 _"What makes you think that **I** won't?" Jou laughed. He heard the redhead whimper. "Calm down, Koushirou. You don't have to tell me who the girl is."_

 _"I don't?"_

 _"Nope, but I have an idea who it is."_

 _"Y-you d-do?"_

 _"Yeah, given this entire conversation we just had, it`s obvious that you`re taking your own advice." Koushirou gave off a strangled laugh, while pulling his shirt collar. "Don't worry," Jou continued, noticing the fear in Koushirou's laugh, "your secret is safe with me." The redhead sighed out in relief. "I'll keep the drama one secret too." He mischievously smiled. "Well, I'll **try** to keep my mouth shut about it."_

 _"You **truly** promise not to tell about the dramas? Miyako-kun already promised not to if I watched them with her."_

 _"Yeah, I promise; besides, I don't think Taichi would even believe me if I **did** tell him."_

 _"Thank you so much, Jou-san. You are a very good friend, and you sound truly sincere with your promise."_

 _"It's no problem at all, but a quick note of advice. Don't make yourself so obvious if you don't want others to know about it. I figured out who you were referring to just by this conversation."_

 _Koushirou blushed slightly in embarrassment. "G-good idea."_

 _"I hope I can manage to get the nerve to introduce myself to her."_

 _"I'm sure you'll do fine, Jou-san."_

 _A knock was heard on Koushirou's door. "Hold on a moment, please." He left for a brief moment. Jou heard some talking, which sounded liked Mrs. Izumi. At one point, he heard Koushirou go, "*Prodigious!" He then heard someone running back towards the phone. "Jou-san, I-"_

 _"You have to go, right? Miyako-kun is there to start your drama-filled afternoon, isn't she?"_

 _"Y-yeah."_

 _"I'll talk to you later, and thanks."_

 _"Alright, Jou-san, and good luck to you."_

 _"Thanks again."_

 _Both hanged up the phone. 'Come on, Jou! This is the biggest obstacle that I'll probably ever have to face! I **must** bring myself to speak with her, and I plan on doing so the next time I see her! Nothing shall hold me back!'  
_

* * *

"I'm just glad that I knew some Japanese before moving here. My sister, brother, and I, started learning it from a very young age through our mother. When dad announced the move, we were all pretty surprised, and even more shocked to find out where. I guess you could say that we went to a cram school to brush up on our Japanese. The main thing we were forced to study almost constantly was grammar, reading, and writing."

"I understood your Japanese pretty well," Jou complimented while thumbing through a book. "Also, because of you, I'm starting to understand English a lot better. I'm so confident with my English speaking skills and abilities, I feel that I could go to America to visit my friend in New York, and actually sightsee on my own without much trouble."

"You have an American friend?"

"I never mentioned her to you?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Her name is Tachikawa Mimi. She moved there a few years ago with her family because of her father's work. The last time I saw Mimi-kun, was a little over a year ago; a little while before we formally met, actually."

"I would like to meet her someday. We could talk about the changes we had to make when moving."

"She's a really nice person, and seems to have this way of cheering you up when you're down. She can be a bit forceful at times, but she always means well. I still keep in touch with her, just not as often as we used to because of my being busy with school and work. My friend, Izumi Koushirou, keeps in touch with her the most, probably. He`s always the first to know whenever she`s planning a trip back to Japan. They seem to keep in contact a lot."

Malissa stood, staring around the library once again. "I sometimes wonder why my mother and father considered putting me in this school."

Jou closed up the book he'd been thumbing through, and gave her a curious look. "Why?"

"Well, I'm not all that smart."

"But you're in high-level classes, just like your sister. Your class is rival to mine's in test scores. Your score is usually in the top five of your class; you had to take an entrance exam to get into this school _and_ a transfer exam; those are usually hard, but you still managed to score high."

"I know, but I'm still only average, I feel. I only did well on the entrance exam, just like my sister, because I studied very hard and even got tutoring, but my sister has always been naturally smart. My kid-brother is a bit like me, I guess." She sat back down. "I still don't know what I want to do with my life entirely, yet, so I don't know if the subjects I'm taking are for me. My father wants me to become something like a lawyer, to help 'uphold justice', while my mother wants me to become a doctor to help 'save lives'.

"Both careers take a lot of work to achieve, but I don't want to be either. At first, I was interested in computers."

"I have a couple of good friends who go to Odaiba Junior High who are great with them, one of them being Koushirou-kun."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I've lost interest in that. At one point, I was considering a career in accounting, since I was taking that before moving here, or either something else dealing with mathematics, but I lost interest in that, too. Either way, I don't think I'd be too good at it."

"What makes you say that? If you're good at math or accounting, then you should go for it! As far as I know, you've always done well with math, and you did say you did well with accounting before moving here to Tokyo."

"I don't know...I just know I'll mess up."

Jou shook his head. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Quit being such a pessimist! What you need to do is to gain some self-confidence," he scolded. "When I was younger, I thought like that a lot, but I realized that you won't know what you can achieve, until you actually try it.

"As you know, I've finally decided that I want to become a doctor. When I was younger, I never felt hat I could accomplish it, or get scores good enough in school to even attempt it. I worked hard, though, and gained some confidence in myself and my abilities, and realized that I could do whatever I set my mind to with plenty of hard work and study! If you don't believe in yourself or _show_ to believe in yourself, then nobody else will.

"You don't want people to think that of you, do you?" He inwardly laughed over the irony of his words. 'I'm actually starting to sound like Gomamon. I wonder how he's doing. It sure would be nice to see him again, and show him how well I'm doing with my school work. It's been so long since I've seen or heard from him.'

She stood there a moment, taking in Jou's wise words. "Maybe you're right. Being so negative, and constantly putting myself down, isn't going to solve my problem any, and I should go for whatever it is that truly interests me. That something is writing, but I'm hesitant since I can't really make a living off of writing."

"Sure you can! I believe in you. You can do whatever you set your mind to."

Before Malissa could reply to Jou's praise, the short, plump, old pepper-haired woman from behind the check-out desk spoke up. It was the librarian. "Kido-kun, I'm about to lock up. If you want to check out anything, you'll have to do it now."

Jou stood. "Hai, Tosho-sensei. May I please go look for one more book first, before I go?"

"Go right ahead. You're one of the most serious students I've ever come across, Kido-kun, so I won`t deny you that."

"Doumo, Tosho-sensei."

"Don't take too long."

"Oh, Malissa-san, you worry too much. I'll be fine," he promised while giving her a thumbs-up and a wink.

With that, the boy took off to look for the book he needed, leaving both Malissa and the polite, Mrs. Tosho behind.

"Let's see," Jou muttered while reading the call number of the book, "it should be right over here."

He found the section where the book was to be, and spotted it almost instantly. Unfortunately, it was on the very top shelf. He grumbled in annoyance, as he climbed the sliding ladder to get to the thick book. Once he reached the top, he retrieved it. He noticed that it was dusty, and blew it off.

'Malissa wasn't kidding; this library _is_ ancient.' He opened the book, to make sure that he hadn't mixed up his call numbers, and after confirming that, he quickly checked to make sure it had information that would actually aid him in some way. When he opened the book to its index page, he noticed something a bit unusual. "File Island? Why would a map of File Island be in a medical science book, and how would this author know of the Digital World?"

Suddenly, the book emitted a bright light, which caused Jou to lose his balance in surprise and topple over. He screamed as he fell, dropping the book, and landing right on it...  
x x x x  
"How did you and Kido-kun become such good friends, dear?" Mrs. Tosho asked while organizing some books that some other students had returned earlier.

"I was sitting right here in this library. The table Jou-san was sitting at, is where I was when first meeting him. He came over and introduced himself to me." She smiled enchantingly. "I was still new here, and didn't have any friends yet. Jou-san saw me, and came right over, offering to help me with my work, and started talking. We've been good friends ever since."

"I see," she nodded knowingly, giving the girl a gentle smile. "You have that look."

"Look? I have a look?"

She nodded. "You have that look in your eye; true admiration for Kido-kun."

"Wh-what do you mean?" she asked, blushing furiously. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you know what I mean," she answered knowingly with a gentle smile.

Before Malissa could think of something to defend herself with, the two of them heard Jou's scream, and noticed the bright, white light coming from the part of the library that he was in.

"Jou-san!"

Malissa took off and ran in that direction, Mrs. Tosho slightly behind her. By the time they got there, they saw Jou scrambling, trying to grab ahold of something to keep from being pulled into the bright, whirling light behind him. There was also quite a bit of wind blowing at them. Malissa and Mrs. Tosho shielded their eyes from the bright light.

"Jou-san! What's going on!" Malissa shouted, trying to keep her hair from out of her face.

"I don't know!"

After the light disappeared, Jou was no place to be found. The only thing left was the book he was planning on checking out, and it was now closed shut. Mrs. Tosho walked over and picked up the book, and for no reason at all, tried to open it, but it wouldn't let her. Both stood there flabbergasted, quite lost on what had happened to Jou...

Author's Notes

Note 1: The type of assignment Jou is being given, more than likely wouldn't be given in an actual Japanese high school. Seems "research" based writing or most writing of that nature in general is relegated to university students.  
x x x  
Note 2: For _my_ fics, Ken is fluent in English. I honestly don't know if he is or not, I'm just saying that he is for the sake of argument since he did have the Dark Spore which helped to increase his intelligence. He also may be fluent in Spanish, as he did use it when in Mexico in Adventure 02, unless he only understands and speaks it at a low level. I used Iori since he could write in English okay. In movie 3, he wrote out the sign to get them to "Summer Memory". I decided to make it so that he learned some English over the past couple of years.

I know that as of Tri, Koushirou seems to be the one that`s really good with English and in a way, it makes sense. Most people who work in IT in Japan have to have some kind of English ability and he also has even more incentive because of Mimi, so yeah. lol  
x x x  
Note 3: In Japan, it`s actually forbidden for some students to have part-time work. It depends on the actual school and you need permission through the school for you to have part-time work.  
x x x  
Note 4: ASIJ means "American School in Japan", which is located in Choufu (調布市), Tokyo, is a school with an English curriculum, meaning all the subjects are taught in English and in an American style, including the grades they hold (Elementary holds grades K-5, Middle holds grades 6-8, and High holds 9-12). For Japanese schools, Elementary holds years 1 – 6, Junior High/Middle holds grades 1 – 3, and High holds years 1 – 3.  
x x x  
Note 5: For the original series, Koushirou doesn`t have a catchphrase like Izzy does, but I actually like "prodigious", which is why I`m using it for this fic. It is an interesting word, don`t you think?

Fic Chapter Changes

I trimmed the flashback quite a bit and dropped some unnecessary dialogue.


	8. Rushed Band Practice

Here we are with the handsome one of the older group; Yamato. I hope you enjoy this, somewhat short, chapter. By the title, you can see that he's at a band practice. Originally, I'd considered having this chapter come after the Taichi and Sora one, but felt Jou was more fun to go with. Anyway, only one more kid to go and then we can get into the story.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon anime, games, manga, toys, etc.; Bandai and Toei have that honor.

Chapter 08: "おれもう行くは; じゃあな.."  
"Ore mou iku wa; jaa na…"  
"I'm leaving; see you later." Yamato's Rushed Band Practice!

The now, still handsome, Odaiba High School 16-year-old first year, Ishida Yamato, along with his other three band members, *Akira, Yutaka, and Takashi, were rehearsing at the Fuji TV Station on a sound stage. They'd been practicing for a good while since school had let out early that day. The group had a pretty big gig that upcoming Saturday, and Yamato asked his father's permission to use the sound studio there since the *good places for bands to practice, were mostly inland.

Thanks to Mr. Ishida, who was a manager and TV director at the station, he managed to get the group their own music special, which would be broadcast from Tokyo Dome. He figured that since Yamato's group had been doing so well, why not let them get some more exposure through television. The new show that Fuji TV had just put out was one to promote young, new artists and groups.

"Okay guys," the blonde started as he put his guitar aside, "let's wrap it up. We got in a lot of practice today."

"What do you _mean_ , 'a lot of practice'!" argued the loud, boisterous Yutaka. "I know school let out early for us today, but we just practically got started!"

"We have that upcoming performance this Saturday night," the girl-crazed Akira added, "we should be practicing nonstop!"

"I didn't realize it was so late."

"It's not late," muttered Yutaka under his breath.

Akira shook his head, and gave the blonde a knowing smile. "Let me guess…you have to go meet that girl of yours again."

"Well, um, y-yeah," he shyly answered with a small blush.

"You know, on days where you have afternoon dates, we really shouldn't have practice."

"Especially here," Yutaka roared. "It takes a good while to get here from school, especially when we have club meetings!"

"But we aren't in any after school clubs," Akira pointed out, which went unnoticed by Yutaka.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry. I forgot that I had a date this afternoon since Saturday's concert has been on my mind all week."

"How in the world could you forget about practice, Ishida!" Yutaka continued to squabble. "We are performing for that special your old man got for us! This could mean instant stardom! They'll have talent scouts there!"

"I _said_ I was sorry, but I really have to meet up with her. We have to discuss some things."

Takashi, the quiet one amongst the four, who had been packing up equipment ever since Yamato announced it, spoke up shyly. "Are you going to stop dating in secret?"

Yamato nodded. "We know we shouldn't, but she's still not ready to let everyone know about it. I still don't get why. She doesn't even want Taichi to know, and she's been good friends with him for years," he explained while packing up. 'I hope we'll be able to get everything out in the open this time around. I really want to know her true reason for keeping our relationship a secret. I'm tired of running around.'

"We know, we know," Akira grumbled as he began to pack up. "You told us already."

"Other than my younger brother, I feel that I can tell you guys almost anything, and Taichi…but sucks that I can't mention this to him. He has to be getting a bit suspicious by now. Not sure how many more lies I can tell to get out of hanging with him and the others."

"That's what friends are for," Takashi stated brightly, "but I have been thinking about your situation. Maybe she's shy to let everyone know about it. She's never had a boyfriend before you, right?"

"No," he answered bluntly, "but it's been an entire month! How much more time could she possibly need before letting people know about us?"

The room went quiet, no one able to honestly come up with an actual answer to the young bass player's query.

"You know, I wonder how that Motomiya girl is doing," Yutaka randomly muttered.

Yamato sighed out in relief. "She got tired of me, _that's_ what."

"Without her, our merchandise hasn't been selling as much," Yutaka pointed out. "It's okay, and I know she still comes to our concerts, but we made more of a profit with her around buying our T-shirts, and posters, and stuff like that. I doubt her room is still overly full with our stuff."

"You shouldn't have let her go, man."

Yamato glared at Akira indignantly. "What do you _mean_ I let her go! I never _had_ her to begin with!"

"You ignored her too much."

"I _didn't_ ignore her! She just grew out of her crush on me according to her brother."

"She got tired of waiting around for you to give in," Yutaka corrected.

"But I never liked her in that way!" Yamato shouted at the two irrational boys. "What turned me off from Jun was the fact that she liked me because I was 'the great Yamato-kun of the Teen-Age Wolves'! She only liked me because of my looks and because I was in a band!"

"How do you know that's the only reason she liked you?" Akira thought for a moment, and sweat dropped at his own statement, recalling the times that Jun hanged around. "Never mind."

"I'm sure she would have been okay if she would've tried, I don't know, _talking_ to me instead of trying to cling onto my arm every chance she got! Besides, I prefer how she is now compared to how she was in the past. She's a decent person, and okay to talk with. We can actually have a conversation now without her acting all lovesick over me."

"Since we're ending early today, why don't we just have a longer practice tomorrow?"

"Good idea, Takashi," Yutaka nodded. "We could use some more practice. I don't want one note off."

"Yeah, we probably should. I'll just cancel any other date I had planned for the week."

"So in other words," Akira laughed, "no days, since today _is_ Friday."

"Oh yeah, that's right, and it's too late to cancel on her now."

"Yo, Ishida, think your old man could set it up so we can practice here again, since it has a sound stage and all of that other sound equipment?"

"I'll see what I can do, but I'm sure he could. It's cheaper to practice here than those other places."

"You know what would be _really_ nice?"

The other three boys looked over at Takashi and asked, "What?"

"If your friend, Tachikawa-san, was here since she has such a nice singing voice."

"She's cute too," Akira whistled.

"You got _that_ right!" Yutaka agreed, giving Akira a high-five.

"When she was here about a year ago, you and Tachikawa-san sounded very nice when performing that duet."

"Yeah, that was pretty fun. Too bad she isn't here now, and if she was, she would've called or sent an e-mail or something to let me know or at least Koushirou. She always send him messages and he usually let's us know what's up. With her here, it might increase our chances."

"But you know," Akira started, "if she _was_ here, and sang with us, and we get discovered, they'd probably take her over us, and put her with a studio band. A cute girl who can sing perfectly is what the public loves, _and_ she knows some English. The people seem to love hearing English in songs, like that new girl; Rie Fu. That _Life is Like a Boat_ single she put out last month did pretty good, I heard, in sales.

"Go and get Mimi-chan!"

Yamato and the others laughed. "I would love to, but I don't think she could get here on such short-notice by tomorrow night. Anyway, I have to get to get to the park."

"Which one," asked Yutaka.

"Daiba Park…it's the closest one to here and there are other things to do around there. I wanted to be there by at least 17:45 (5:45) and here it is almost 17:30 (5:30)."

"Yes yes, go join the love of your life, and confess your love for her on the Ferris Wheel there when it reaches the top, so that you two can be together forever," Akira teased.

"We aren't _that_ serious," he informed them defensively. 'I hope it lasts a long time, though. I really do like her and I've never felt anything like this towards any other girl.'

"Do you need me to help clean up, or are one of you going to do it?"

"Takashi, you guys can go on home. It's my fault we're ending early today. Tomorrow at about 9:00, we'll rehearse until the early afternoon, so we don't burn ourselves out, and then we head over to Tokyo Dome at about 16:00 (4:00). I'll let you know if my father can get us another room here by tonight."

"Seems like you have it all planned out, Ishida," complimented a now calmed down Yutaka.

"We're going to come straight here to the station first for the rehearsal, right?"

"Right."

The three boys loaded up their equipment, and waved to Yamato. When leaving the building, they headed to the nearest bus line home or wherever they planned to go. Yamato spent nearly 10 minutes more to make sure everything in the studio was clear. The last thing he did was put his guitar back into its case. 'Should I take this with me, or should I take my chances and leave it here?' He looked at the time. It was now a bit past 5:30. 'I'll leave it, and just let pop know about it. I'm already late, and don't have time to go home.'

Yamato locked up, and raced out of the studio, anxious to get to the park which was a good distance away. Time he stepped foot outside, he noticed the sky was grey, and it was very windy out. In the far distance, he saw a storm cloud with lightening coming from it, but it seemed to be in only one place. Yamato squinted to get a better look. 'That doesn't look right.'

One of the lightning bolts seemed to come from the storm cloud far off, and struck the rod atop the Fuji TV station. Yamato couldn't help but stare in amazement. What happened next seemed to be scientifically impossible. When the bolt hit the rod, it seemed to ricochet from the rod, and struck the blonde. Yamato screamed not from the slight pain, but from the surprise and shock he was now in.

Some people walking by, noticed the boy being struck in place, and began to panic. "Call an ambulance," some people shouted. "Help that boy!" others yelled. "Yamato-kun!" a girl shrieked in terror.

After the painful shock, the blonde could barely hear those chattering around him, and felt himself being pulled upwards towards a strange looking vortex over his school. He didn't understand what was happening, other than his being in slight pain from the electricity. As he was being pulled upwards, he thought he saw Sora, and called out to her, and tried his best to reach out to her, but it was of no use. She neither saw nor heard him. He also thought he saw Taichi, and called to him as well, but it was pretty much the same. The next thing he knew, he was pulled into the odd vortex, entrapped in darkness...

Author's Note

Note 1: These do exist in Japan. Think of karaoke places but made for people to play instruments. I couldn't find anything right off in Odaiba, but know of them in other places, like say Shibuya (where Takeru used to live and where Frontier took place), Shinjuku (where Tamers took place), Ikebukuro, etc. These places are all inland areas of Tokyo. For an hourly fee, you can practice playing your instruments. It would probably be pretty expensive for high-school students.  
x x x

Note 2: Akira, Yutaka, and Takashi are the actual names of Yamato's band-members (former members as of Tri). Unfortunately, I can't recall which one was which (that's why I didn't bother with descriptions), and I haven't seen the Christmas episode in ages. The main thing I do recall, was that each member had their names sewn on their outfits.

Fic Chapter Changes

I added in Yamato being more frustrated over keeping his relationship a secret. Originally, he knew why Sora wanted to keep it secret, which was why he was more willing to go along with it, but as you can see here, he's actually reaching his limit.

I changed the park Yamato was going to from Kasai Rinkai Park to Daiba park. Daiba park would be way closer than Kasai Rinkai Park, which is near Tokyo Disney…pretty far. Odaiba Seaside Park isn't too far from the Fuji TV station.


	9. Iori's Troubles

It is now time for the traditional and honorable Iori. The young boy is reflecting on the past and seem to be going through some "growing pains". Surprisingly, he meets up with a classmate, who of which he insists on walking home due to holding her up, but neither makes it to their destination… Now, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon anime, game, manga, etc. Bandai and Toei have those rights and please leave a comment to let me know how I'm doing.

Chapter 09: "約束 を破ってしまいました! ぼくはきみの友情 にふさわしくありません!"  
"Yakusoku o yabutte shimaimashita! Boku wa kimi no yuujou ni fusawashiku arimasen!"  
"I broke my promise! I am unworthy of your friendship!" Iori's Troubles...

It was early evening, and the young Iori was currently helping his grandfather at his dojo; his grandfather's specialty being Kendo. Hida Chikara was a retired police officer and taught Kendo to pass the time. The now 11-year-old Hida Iori still attended Odaiba Elementary, currently in his fifth year. Since Iori was advanced, and excelled well at the art, he helped to assist the beginner class, under his grandfather's supervision.

He had grown a bit within the past couple of years, maybe about the height Daisuke was when he was that age. His hair was pretty much styled the same, as he believed in keeping such trivial matters simple; his mentality in general was pretty much the same, and stuck to tradition whenever possible. He was also still very polite. Lately, though, the usually perceptive, attentive Iori would let his mind wander.

'I really do sometimes miss hanging around the others. We rarely ever talk to one another anymore, especially where _she's_ concerned. I've known her for most of my life, but now, she always seems to be too busy.

'And then there's the fact that I really miss Armadimon, even more-so lately, but I know I wouldn't be able to face him if the opportunity were to come up. I feel that I've lied to him. That I've betrayed him.'

"Iori, come on, now," an older, bald male called, "I need you to concentrate on cleaning since all of the sessions are over."

The boy shook off his ill thoughts, his grandfather handing him a broom. "I'm sorry, grandfather."

"What's wrong, Iori? You seem to be blanking out a lot, lately." Iori bowed to him and apologized again. He really didn't want to get into what was bothering him. "I know that you have something on your mind. It is always better for one to express his feelings as opposed to holding them all in. It's not healthy for the mind or the body, and your technique has been very sloppy lately."

"Nothing is wrong, grandfather," a forced smile found its way to Iori's round baby-face, "but I do have a bit on my mind, though."

"Exactly my point. Maybe you should go home if you don't want to talk about whatever it is that's bothering you."

"No, please let me stay. It is my responsibility to help you. I chose this particular duty, and I must now honor it."

"No, go ahead," he gave him a knowing smile, "I can handle the rest, since the most tedious work has already been done."

"Yes sir," Iori bowed obediently, "I will do so."

Iori left to change out of his Kendo gear, grabbed his jacket, along with his bag filled with his Kendo equipment, and strapped his shinai to his back. He thanked his grandfather for letting him leave, but before he was able to get within a kilometer of the door leading towards the hall, his grandfather called to him. He turned to face him. "Yes sir?"

"You remind me of your father more and more everyday," he told him with a proud smile while pulling on his bushy mustache. "He was the exact same way when he was your age with the secrecy." Iori frowned slightly, not really caring much to be compared to his deceased father. "He kept secrets about girls too since he was so shy," he added on slyly.

"Wh-what!?" Iori's cheeks went red from embarrassment. "I-I don't have any secrets about _girls_!"

"You better hurry home now." Chikara told him, trying to keep from laughing. Teasing his only grandson was fun at times.

Iori hurried out into the hallway, slipping into his sneakers. He then ran out of the building a good distance before coming to a brisk walk, growing, once again, lost in his thoughts.

'I feel so insignificant right now. It's true, I do have a slight girl problem, but not in the way he's insinuating. I want to spend time with her again. I don't know what's making me feel worse, my strange, unnecessary girl situation, or my guilt dealing with Armadimon. I feel as if I let him down. I still seem to have trouble with trusting and forgiving people.'

As the walk continued, the more bothered he became, especially since he'd had that one-sided conversation with his grandfather. 'Why did ojiisama have to say that I reminded him of otousan? Unfortunately, I don't know much about father since I was so young when he died. I only know of him through stories.'

Iori came to a street corner, waiting for the light to change. 'If I could _only_ remember the good times I had with my father, but I haven't any.' The light changed, and he continued on, his head hanging gloomily. 'All I remember is my mother being sad...so sad. All I remember is her crying when she found out my father wasn't coming home for dinner with us. Okaasan had prepared a special dinner that night. Right after that, we found out that he wasn't coming home. He didn't come home because those thieving radicals _shot_ him!

'I shall never forgive the person who actually pulled the trigger, but I do respect my father for taking the bullet, as it was a very honorable and noble thing to do. The person who _mur_ dered my father apologized to my mother and to me after his trial, along with his accomplices, and he, the main one, said he had changed. The system, somehow, forgave him, and he is a free man today. He claimed that the shooting in general was an accident. He wanted my mother and me to forgive him and his accomplices for their supposed mistake, but he doesn't deserve any forgiveness. He made okaasan sad, and made her cry for a long time. I will _never_ forgive that! He took something away from us that we can never get back. I can't forgive them, ever!'

The preteen stuck to that logic even to this day. He still hadn't forgiven the man who had killed his father, even though he truly _had_ changed. Iori just felt that it was some kind of a trick to work on his sympathies.

'I will _never_ trust them, or people like them. It's been a little over seven years since he passed away. *I told Armadimon that I was going to be more forgiving, when in reality, I honestly haven't. Whenever I meet a person, I still question his motives in the back of my mind if he's had a shady past. I've really let Armadimon down.'

Iori heaved out a sigh as he came up to a corner store, not watching where he was going. A person exiting the store didn't notice him either, causing the two to collide, knocking another down.

"Hey, didn't you see me!?"

"I'm really sorry. Please excuse me," Iori apologized with a bow. He helped the smaller person up, and handed her back her poignant-smelling grocery bag.

She brushed herself off before taking the bag from the boy. "You should really watch where you're going."

"I am really, very sorry," he apologized again. "I was slightly distracted and I didn't see you walking out of the door. Please forgive me."

The girl began to grin. Iori obviously didn't recognize her, but she surely recognized him. "Well, well, well…look who it is. It's Iori-kun, one of the quietest, and nicest, boys of Odaiba Elementary School that all of the teachers love."

"Tezuka-san?"

She grinned. "The one and only, and how many times do I have to tell you, call me Eiji!"

The outgoing, 11-year-old Tezuka Eiji was a bit smaller than Iori, and was also a classmate of his. Her long, aqua-blue hair was pretty much her trademark (it was always tied up in a single semi-messy ponytail with a butterfly clip), as well as her flare-legged jeans that she constantly wore, along with a plain, close-fitting T-shirt and a bracelet, decorated with butterflies. Iori had just always assumed that the girl liked them for some reason since she always had butterflies decorating something. Her desk at school had small trinkets on it, and her backpack was also decorated with butterflies. It was a mystery to him. She was well-known amongst her peers, but never seemed to let that go to her head. Iori always found the way she was around others amazing. She seemed to have the ability befriend everyone and seemed to get along with everyone, similar to Daisuke in some ways.

Even though the two went to school together, the two were merely just acquaintances and never saw one another much outside of school. One thing Iori observed about Eiji, was her tendency to talk. She would always give extra-long explanations for such simple questions asked of her. One thing he always found a bit...odd about her, was her name. The name Eiji was pretty masculine; then again, he figured that it fit her in some ways. She wasn't a "girly-girl", but not quite tom-boyish either. She was a bit in between.

"What are you doing out here?"

"I was just doing some marketing for my mother. She ran out of garlic for some strange new recipe of hers. She needed a bunch of garlic and onion stuff." She scrunched up her nose as she looked down into the bag. "I don't think I forgot anything." Eiji shuddered slightly. "To be honest, I don't _want_ to try any of her new recipes! Garlic isn't all that good, and I hate it.

"I can tell you this much," she leaned over to Iori, and laughed a bit, "a vampire wouldn't come within 10,000 kilometers of our entire apartment building. I'm surprised our landlord hasn't kicked us out yet.

"I also volunteered to pick these things up so that I could buy something edible to eat for myself! It's experimental year with her, and this month, it's, 'how many ways can I use garlic in my dishes to drive my daughter crazy'. Last month, it was, 1001 ways to prepare different onion-based dishes. My brothers and I cried for the entire month! She's been weird lately, but go figure mothers, right?"

Iori didn't respond, as he had gone back to his own thoughts. Eiji arched an eyebrow up at him, noticing his distant look. He was being a bit rude, which was surprising since he usually went out of his way to be polite and courteous. "Iori-kun, is something wrong? Thinking about it, you've been keeping to yourself a lot and you've been more quiet than usual too. What's wrong?"

"Y-you wouldn't understand," he sullenly answered.

"Try me. I would like for us to become better friends, and friends don't keep secrets from each other. I don't mind listening to what you have to say."

"I'm sorry Eiji-san, but you really wouldn't understand what's bothering me."

"At least get whatever is bothering you off of your chest. It's not good to hold in your feelings." She turned her head away from Iori. "I learned that the hard way."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sure you've seen my family and my two younger brothers, Keizo and Hiroki." Iori nodded. "Well, they're my half-brothers. We have the same mother. The man you see with my family is not my real father. He's the father of Keizo and Hiroki, but he's in no way related to me."

"Not your real father?"

"Nope. My real father died a long time ago. He died so long ago I don't remember much about him, other than the bad things."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I never knew."

"Don't be sorry," she uttered darkly. "He wasn't the best person in the world from the little I _do_ remember of him." Iori gave her a curious look, which the girl picked up on. "I know my mother doesn't like me talking about this, but I don't care what she thinks. She feels like I shame her whenever I bring up the subject and likes to act as if it never happened at all, but all I remember is arguing and my mother crying a lot. I remember him _hitting_ her. I remember crying because I would hear him hit her or either I would see it.

"The worst was when he hit her because of...me. He was after me, but my mother kept him away and got hit instead. I remember seeing blood...so much of it. He hit her very hard in the face, causing her mouth and nose to bleed."

Iori was very stunned over hearing such a story. He couldn't even fathom going through such an ordeal. He was surprised that Eiji was talking about it so openly, especially with him. Her tone of voice seemed to vary between sadness, fear, and anger.

"After he was done with her, he left and I remember I was crying because 'mommy' was hurt and she was crying a lot too, but tried her best to hold back her tears. She told me not to worry so that she could clean herself up. She was trying to act normal, but looking back now, she wasn't doing a very good job of it. She was doing it for my sake, though.

"A while later, the phone rang; my mother answered it. The call said that my father was in a bad accident. My mother told me that he wasn't coming home. I didn't feel upset or anything since I was too young to understand the whole concept of death entirely yet. As the years went on, it started to bother me that I didn't feel guilty over my father's death."

'I wonder why she would feel guilty over it in the first place?'

"I felt that it was my fault that he got angry and left in the first place since my parents' argument had something to do with me. My mother kept telling me that it wasn't my fault, but I didn't really believe her. I still blamed myself for that night. I held that guilt within me for years until I couldn't take it anymore. I became withdrawn from my family and grew so depressed, that I just didn't want to deal with the world or anything anymore. I would think, 'if I can turn my own father into a monster, who's to say that I won't manage to do it again with somebody else?'

"About a year ago, I got sick and missed school for a while."

"I remember that vaguely..."

"I was very stressed out, and it was causing me to get sick. My mother just told the school that I'd come down with a bad flu. I was actually going to a Child Psychologist in Shibuya and still go sometimes."

The girl kicked at the ground a bit, since there was a bit of an uncomfortable silence between the two of them. The only sounds heard, were those of customers entering and exiting the store that they were still standing in front of. "Wow, I've never told that story in such detail to pretty much anyone, not even my best friend," she told him with a small, uneasy laugh. "I guess I feel that I can trust you, Iori-kun."

Iori wasn't sure how to respond to the girl or how to react. The story was a bit intense and depressing. 'She always seems so cheery and happy, but who would've guessed that she had such a dark past. Even her demeanor, at this moment, feels very mature.'

"See, Iori-kun, that's what happens when you don't share your feelings, especially ones dealing with guilt," she warned direly. "You become either violent, suicidal, depressed, or in my case, stressed and sickly. You're too bright and smart to let that happen to you. You should tell someone how you feel, or let somebody know what's bothering you so that you can fix the problem. If you don't, it might just eat away at you until you crack. If you don't want to share it with me, do me a favor and _please_ tell someone. I hate to see you so down."

Iori was quiet for a brief moment. She then told the boy, "bye", and began to walk off.

"Eiji-san, wait!" He walked up to her. All she'd said made a whole lot of sense, even though most of her advice echoed what his grandfather had told him earlier.

"Hm?"

"Y-you're right, I really shouldn't keep in what's bothering me, but my situation is quite trivial compared to what you've been through."

"It doesn't matter."

"Well, it's just that my situation is a bit...strange. I feel as if I've deceived a good friend," he finally got out.

" _Strange_?" She scoffed. "I _highly_ doubt it. The weirdest situation I've ever been in were when those strange monster things attacked here a couple of years ago, and that big scary vampire-looking monster that was here three years before that. He tried to take all of us kids away and held us at the convention center." Iori nearly choked after hearing her say that. He couldn't believe his ears. "Oh no," Eiji groaned, "don't tell me that you don't remember them either. _No_ body that I know of remembers those monsters attacking here."

"You _know_ about the Digimon that invaded our world two years ago?!"

"Oh, so _that's_ what they're called. Well, those ' _Digi_ mon' made a pretty big mess. When that happened, I was about nine. It's a bit fuzzy what happened two years ago, but the vampire one I remember pretty well. I think I remember some kids fighting against it with monsters of their own."

Iori led Eiji back towards the front of the store, both taking a seat on the bench near the door. "What else do you know?"

"Like I said, nothing much. I mainly remember seeing them and battling, but it seems as if I'm one of the few that actually remembers it. It's like everyone was brainwashed or something. How could anyone forget something like that? They caused so much damage! I just don't get it." She gave Iori an inquiring look. "How do _you_ know so much about them, and how did you know that they were called Digimon?"

"I'm trying to figure out how you remember them," he pondered while rubbing his chin. "Normally those who didn't have anything to do with Digimon, like come in contact with them, usually end up forgetting ever seeing them, with a bit of assistance. Also, those who didn't have some type of a specific task pertaining to them, like helping to defeat the evil ones or to help their world, usually doesn't remember them."

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute!" the girl exclaimed, practically jumping from her seat. "You're one of the children, aren't you?! You're one of the children who helped to get rid of that big scary monster I saw almost two years ago!"

"Yes, Vamdemon in his true and final form...BelialVamdemon."

"So you _were_ one of them, weren't you?" He nodded sheepishly, finally realizing that he'd given off a bit too much information. "Wow! So that means you were with the good Digimon monsters, right?"

"Yes, and the technical term is actually Digital Monster. I had my very own Digimon partner called Armadimon." He explained pretty much everything to the girl with ease. Talking to her seemed to be very enlightening, and he enjoyed it very much. It felt like a relief. He went into how he was a Chosen Child and the details of what had happened in that final battle almost two years earlier.

"Wow, being a Chosen Child sounds like it could have been fun, except for having to fight all those bad monsters. Too bad you had to leave your Digimon...Armadimon was it...behind."

"Yeah, it's Armadimon." Iori sighed. "I really do miss him and the others."

"And who would have guessed that the brain, Ichijouji-san, was once evil! I remember when he went missing for weeks, and now I know why. I remember my mom talking about it!"

"I still find it a bit peculiar how you know of Digimon if you've never had any real contact with them."

"Maybe I have and just don't remember."

"That is a possibility." Iori looked down at his watch, his eyes nearly bugging out. "Oh no, I should have been home almost an entire hour ago!"

"Same here for me. I'm sure my mother needs her garlic." She snickered a bit. "I'm glad I had a burger, fries, and a cola so I won't have to sample her French Garlic Soufflé." She stood up. "It was nice talking to you, Iori-kun. We should do it again some time. I'll see you later, and remember what I said about keeping everything in."

"No, wait Eiji-san." She turned to face him once again. "W-would you mind if I walked you home?"

The young girl looked up at Iori in pure astonishment. A person she truly admired had just offered to walk her home. A person she had purposely intended on meeting up with. After purchasing her items, she noticed Iori walking towards the door of the store. She hurried herself out so that she'd bump into him on purpose just so she'd have an excuse to talk to him. "Walk me home?"

"Yes; it's the least I could do for holding you up. I'm sure your family is worried about you."

"Okay, but what about _your_ family?"

"I will worry about that later," he stated confidently. 'I'm surprised that ojiisama didn't pass by us, unless he used an alternate route to get home.'

The usually talkative girl was at a loss for words, her cheeks going slightly pink. She gave him a smile. "Hida Iori-kun, I would be _happy_ if you walked me home."

With that, the two left the store and headed towards Eiji's apartment building, but unfortunately, the two never made it...

Author's Notes

Note 1: This is pretty much my take on why Iori had such a problem where trusting and forgiving was concerned and expanded on it. I always felt that his father being killed had a lot to do with it, so maybe the people who did commit the heinous act asked for forgiveness, but he couldn't give it to them due to the fact that they had committed such an evil sin. And how people like that, really can't change. If this is the case, this truly explains why Iori had such a difficult time trusting Ken, and gave him the cold shoulder. It, obviously, takes a lot for Iori to trust a person if he or she has done something completely wrong in the past and one must obviously do something noteworthy to obtain Iori's trust.

As for Iori's father's cause of death, he was killed while on-duty. He was killed while trying to protect a government official, and was praised for it. In other words, he "died with honor"."


	10. Angel

Finally! You all have made it this far into the story. This is where it truly begins, everyone. The actual purpose of this story, so give yourselves a round of applause and a pat on the back if you managed to make it this far. I hope you all enjoy it.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with Digimon; Toei and Bandai have that pleasure.

Chapter 10: "あなたは何をやっているのかわかったいるといいですけれど..."  
"Anata wa nani o yatte iru no ka wakatta iru to ii desu keredo..."  
"I hope you know what you're doing..." The Angelic Woman and her Digimon Partner...

In a somewhat, darkly lit room, a lady with long, silky red hair sat, peering into what seemed to be a giant crystal orb. "All of the children that I seek have been summoned," she stood, her long, white gown flowing behind her, and began to pace the hidden room, which was filled with lots of strange astronomical instruments, an old computer, and books. She looked back down into the crystallized sphere, a bit concerned. "It does seem, however, that there may be some extra people with them."

Joining the lady, as she looked into the orb, was an elegant, white Digimon. "Are you sure that these children will be able to help?"

"I am quite positive that these children will help to restore peace to the Digital World which will help to prevent the crisis that will occur in their world."

Her partner looked skeptical, which was pretty normal for the long-necked Digimon. "But the children that you have summoned, are they not a bit old to be considered, 'children'? The majority of the ones that you have summoned are well into their teens and are old enough to have children of their very owns if they should choose to.

"You need children who are innocent and pure of mind, not those close to reaching adulthood! The oldest of those you summoned, such as Kido Jou or Yagami Taichi, and those of their age are _very_ close to adulthood. How pure and innocent could they possibly be? Don't you remember what it was like when _you_ were that age?"

"Do not worry," the woman replied gently, "for I have already thought of that."

"What makes you so certain that these children can handle such a task, or if they're even worthy enough to accept it?" she asked while stretching out her wings. "It's been a long time."

"It is just a feeling I have. All who have been summoned have helped to protect the Digital World before, or has come in contact with Digimon at some point in his or her life, and doesn't fear them, but still," she began cynically, "I have this feeling that one of those coming here is out of place and doesn't belong. I used up all of my resources and summoning powers to bring them here, so I can't quite figure out who the extra person is, or extra persons are."

"Are you positive that these are the correct human children? Are you positive that they have Digimon partners? Bringing them here to fight would be pointless if they don't have one."

The woman nodded, her hair swishing. "I've done the research and I _have_ indirectly helped them out before. I'm surprised you're even asking, given these kids' history. Luckily, wherever they arrive, they should end up with their partners."

"But what about the extra person or persons that you sense shouldn't be with them?"

"There isn't anything I can do about that," she frowned slightly as she walked to the big, curtain-drawn window of the dark, candle-lit room. "Hopefully, that person doesn't end up in the hands of our enemy. A couple of the children I sense are very special, and according to the vision I had, we should end up meeting with one of them at least."

"Ugh, why must we do this?" the Digimon grumbled, wanting to leave everything alone.

"You ought to know why," she told her, a bit bothered by her Digimon's attitude. "I am Empress of the Digital World. I was chosen and appointed to help maintain peace within it. That task once belonged to that of Gennai-san, but, but…" the woman trailed off as a salty liquid filled her eyes. The room seemed to go eerily silent, as her tears splashed the dark, marble floor.

"He was a very good friend, but there _is_ hope! He _may_ still be alive!"

She wiped away some of her tears, and nodded to her Digimon, appreciating her sympathetic gesture. "I sense he is no longer alive mentally. Ever since he went out after our enemy on his own, I've had this feeling."

"I take that back. I know for a _fact_ that he is still alive!" the white Digimon responded sternly. "Gennai-san, as well as you, were the only two out of the five given the responsibility of keeping both worlds balanced. You were granted immortality to help maintain this. In the past, I know you didn't have as much responsibility, but the guardians are being extra careful now, which is more on your plate." She huffed vaguely. "I still don't understand why you summoned these humans. What could they _possibly_ do that we haven't already tried?"

"Our enemy is truly dangerous." Her lighthearted expression grew harsh and serious as her thoughts went back to Gennai's going off alone. "He has followers who have attacked and taken over different areas of the Digital World, and each child will end up in one of those particular areas. I have no idea what our enemy fully has planned, but he must want to reign over the entire Digital World and work his way up given the pattern of the attacks. He is sure to gather more troops, and then, eventually, invade the human world. This Digimon is purely evil. What better way to defeat a Digimon with an evil heart, than with children with pure hearts?

"Gennai-san has also spoken very highly of these children. I've never met them directly, but he has said very good things about all of them, which is also the reason how I know these children have Digimon partners. They even managed to stop the likes of BelialVamdemon." She looked back down into the orb.

"I really hope you know what you're doing."

"We must get Gennai-san back in any way possible." She wiped away some more of her silent tears with the back of her sleeve. "That is all that matters, and according to the legend, in order to defeat such an enemy, only those with that of a child's innocent mind and heart can defeat him. I do not understand it myself, but it is what the Holy Beast Guardians are telling me about my visions and dreams and what they could possibly mean since I was literally stumped this time.

"The children must rid each area of the minions of our enemy inhabiting it. So far," she looked into the orb a bit harder, "it looks that about five have been taken over completely. After they are victorious, we shall most definitely meet up with them, not counting the one that we will end up meeting. For that child will end up here."

"I still wish these children already had their partners with them."

"Most of the Digimon here know what's going on, and that includes the partners of the humans who should be arriving soon. I sense that they will all meet up very soon."

"Are you absolutely certain?" The woman nodded. "Well, if you're that sure, I shouldn't be so doubtful and weary. You _do_ have the ability to utilize your sixth sense and you have been training to improve it over the years."

"I hope that all goes well too, my friend, so do not think that I am not worried in any way or form. I am worried for their safety, but I don't feel that I will have the need to." The lady turned and headed back to the velvet upholstered chair where she'd been sitting earlier. "We must await these children and keep watch over their progress, a task I shall assign of you while I go back to my meditation exercises. They should be arriving soon; very soon. When they are all together, I shall explain everything to them."

With that, the woman closed her eyes, and looked to be concentrating, while her worried partner kept her eye on the orb, hoping beyond hope that all would go well for their guests...


	11. Missing

Hello again everyone. Hope you're enjoying this so far. This chapter ended up a bit lengthy so I was tempted to drop an entire section for it. It consists of a flashback of when Iori and his mother found out of his father's death. Mrs. Hida is thinking back to the incident. I did find it cute and nice, but a bit unnecessary, so for those who would like to read the flashback, go right ahead. If you don't, just skip it over. Anyway, for this chapter, people are starting to take notice of the strange disappearances of the kids.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the series; Toei and Bandai have that pleasure.

Chapter 11: "伊織、どこ？今すぐ帰ってきます..."  
"Iori, doko? Ima sugu kaette kimasu..."  
"Iori, where are you? _Please_ come home now..." The Case of the Missing Children!

Back at the Hida home, it was being overrun by many phone calls, but being the polite, courteous woman she was, the dark, long-haired Mrs. Hida answered each and every call.

"I am sorry, Inoue-san, but Miyako-chan isn't here," she told Miyako's worried father. "I haven't seen her much since summer."

"Don't worry. If I see her, I'll tell her to go straight home."

"I can imagine her mother being a bit worried if she's usually home by now."

"No, Iori hasn't gotten home yet, but I'll be sure to ask if he's seen her when he does."

"Okay, and don't worry. I _do_ promise to let Miyako-chan know that you're looking for her if I see her."

The woman sighed as she hanged up the phone, an old man pulling on his mustache greeting her and taking a seat on the couch. "What's the matter, my child," Mr. Hida asked, noticing the partially stressed look on his daughter-in-law's face.

"All of the calls that I've been receiving this evening is the problem," she complained, taking a seat beside the man. "I've never gotten so many calls at one time before! The earlier calls were from salesmen and solicitors, which is normal, but still bothersome. All evening they've been calling here, trying to sell stuff!"

"That call just now was from a solicitor?"

She shook her head. "No, that was Inoue-san (Mr. Inoue). He was looking for Miyako-chan, and was wondering if we'd seen her. She was supposed to have gotten home a couple of hours ago."

"She could still be at school. She's been a bit late every day this week, I've noticed. I seem to always bump into her when coming home from my dojo."

"That could be it; he did say that she's been working on a school project all week and that she was supposed to have stayed back, but the school is closed now. His wife tried phoning the school, but got no answer, and when they tried her mobile, she didn`t pick up."

"That _is_ rather odd."

"Speaking of children who _should_ be home, where _is_ Iori? Didn't he leave before you did?"

The old man chuckled as he gave her a smug smile. "I saw him associating with a pretty young lady when on my way home in front of the mart not too far from the dojo. He was deeply engrossed in conversation with her, so I kept on and crossed the street, not wanting to interfere or embarrass him."

She didn't like this response at all. She was getting this really anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach, and for some odd reason, was beginning to grow worried. "Father! It's almost time for dinner! He should be here by now!"

"Have you not noticed how something seems to be bothering him and how he's being a bit secretive?"

"Well, yes, but what does that have to do with Iori not being at home right now?"

"It is quite obvious that something is bothering him, and I sense that it's an attraction towards a certain young lady," he finally got out. "Maybe the girl I saw him with is the one he has feelings for."

"A girl?" She shook her head. "I think I know my Iori much better than that. If he had a problem, he'd come to me with it, like he always has."

"That's not entirely true," Mr. Hida wisely input. "A boy Iori's age doesn't go to his mother with these types of problems, usually. Boys normally go to their...fathers..." He stopped as a grief-stricken look appeared on his face, after realizing what he'd said. Mrs. Hida had an equivalent look. "You don't suppose the reason that he could be upset is because of his missing his father, or that he didn't get the opportunity to know him as well as he wanted to, do you?"

"Who knows," Mrs. Hida sighed heavily, her eyes beginning to sting. "I really do miss him. Thinking back, Iori really didn't know his father very well. He was so young when he died and he was always busy with work."

"Do not worry, my child," he gave her a reassuring smile, "it'll be all right, as long as you remember a lost loved one at his or her best."

"That's true, father, which is why we do have an area set up for him in respect of his memory, but Iori still can't remember much because of how young he was! He probably feels that something is missing, and is looking for the answer to find out more about who he is, since he resembles him so much. He's the splitting image of him, from the way he eats his food down to the way he laces his shoes!

"If he _is_ having girl troubles, and really needs a male figure, why doesn't he just talk to _you_ about it?"

"I suppose that I am not the right person for him to talk to, my dear."

"It's like I'm starting to lose him, father," she complained. "He never used to keep things from me; I feel as if I'm useless to him right now. I know he's always been a bit mature for his age, but he still acted like a typical child at times. I guess I just really miss those times. I wasn't expecting him to grow up so fast."

"Now you know one of the toughest parts of being a parent; watching your child grow up, and missing the times where they relied on you."

She looked over towards her father-in-law, something nagging at the back of her mind. "I-I sometimes wonder how Iori would have turned out if his father was still alive. I wonder if he still would have turned out as mature as he had at such a young age. He acts more adult than some people my age when he was only eight years old!"

"Unfortunately, my child, we will never know..."

Mrs. Hida faced forward, staring at the living room television blankly, her mind wandering back to the painful day of when her husband had passed away...  
x x x x  
 _A four-year-old Iori was sitting contently on the kitchen floor, playing animatedly with a new Pokemon toy that his father had just recently given him. His young mother smiled at the sight._

 _"Are you having fun, Iori?" a younger Mrs. Hida asked._

 _Iori looked up from his spot and smiled playfully. "I sure am! When is papa coming home?"_

 _"Pretty soon," she answered, kneeling down beside the boy, "and we're going to give him a big surprise!"_

 _"The dinner that we made for him, mama?"_

 _"Hai, hai!" she nodded with a smile._

 _"Yay! I can't wait!" Iori stood up and cheered._

 _"I'm sure your father will enjoy the surprise smorgasbord dinner we made for him to celebrate his being promoted earlier this week. He's also going to be proud of his son for helping prepare some of his favorite appetizers and dishes: Onigiri with umeboshi filling for tomorrow, age-gyooza, miso ramen topped with barbecued pork, negi, scallions, and much more!"_

 _"The onigiri I helped make don't look too good," Iori frowned._

 _"Don't worry. I'm sure with some more practice you'll make the best onigiri in the entire world!"_

 _Iori clapped happily, as she hugged him, loving the embrace. No matter what, Iori always brought a smile to her face. Iori had helped to prepare everything; well, more so handed her things while she cooked, but he did help with the onigiri and helped with dessert._

 _"What about dessert?" the round-faced boy asked after getting out of his mother's embrace._

 _"Now how can we forget about dessert," the woman laughed while standing. "I'm sure he'll enjoy the strawberry crème cake we made; perfect for the summer."_

 _"I got to taste the frosting! It was good!"_

 _"Okay now," the woman started as she took off her apron, "since we've spent all day cooking all these foods for your father, let's go set up the table. He should be coming home very soon."_

 _"Is ojiisama coming to dinner too?"_

 _"No, not today." She hung her apron up on the kitchen wall. "Your grandfather is going out to dinner with some old colleagues of his from the police force."_

 _"Oh."_

 _Both Iori and his mother set the table; Iori putting down the utensils, like the chopsticks on the chopstick stand, in the correct places, while his mother set out the actual food dishes. She found it a bit difficult to organize, since she'd prepared such an odd combination of foods that one would usually get at a restaurant. Iori was happy just to set up the basic "non-food" dishes on the table; it made him feel grown up._

 _After they'd finished setting the table, everything set for three, they decided to watch television while awaiting her husband. *Given the time, she knew that one of Iori's favorite evening animated shows was on; Pocket Monsters._

 _The woman grew a bit bothered as she looked up at the wall clock, seeing that it was now 19:13 (7:13), and that her husband wasn't home yet. She knew it wasn't a late day for him, and that he was actually starting up his vacation. He'd promised to come home early that day and if something were to come up, that he'd call. She stood from her comfortable place on the couch in front of the television._

 _"Where are you going?"_

 _"Oh, I'm just going to keep your father's drink warm," she told the boy distractedly. "He always preferred his sake warm, even during the summer."_

 _Iori could only shrug, and turned his attention back towards the television, curious as to what Satoshi (Ash), Kasumi (Misty), and Takeshi (Brock) were going to do next and how they were going to defeat Roketto Dan (Team Rocket) this time._

 _Mrs. Hida went to do as she'd said. She took the still closed bottle, and small cup and set it aside someplace so that it'd remain warm. While she was attending to this task, she had the strangest, most unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. She just had this uneasy feeling that something was wrong dealing with her husband, but she just couldn't figure out what it was exactly._

 _Her thoughts were soon broken by Iori's laughter and his calling to her. "Mama, you're going to miss all the funny parts!"_

 _She shook her head and came back to reality. "I-I'll be there in a bit, Iori."_

 _Making her way back to the living room, she took her seat beside Iori, as she continued to watch the evening kiddy programming with the currently distracted, young oblivious Iori. More time passed. Mrs. Hida looked back up at the wall clock, and it was now almost 20:45 (8:45). 'Where could he be? He should have gotten home almost two hours ago!' She looked down and noticed Iori, who looked as if he was about to fall asleep in her lap. "Iori, it's getting a bit late, so I want you to eat your dinner. You're a growing boy, and you need to eat so that you can grow up nice and healthy, just like your father."_

 _"But, mama," the boy began with a yawn, "I want to wait for papa."_

 _"Iori, please don't argue with me," the woman distantly ordered. "Just go eat your dinner. I don't want you eating so late that you end up having nightmares."_

 _"But what about papa?"_

 _"I promise you that the next time your father doesn't have a late day, we'll all celebrate along with Hida-ojiisan. Your father was planning on taking us all out tomorrow, which is why we prepared so much onigiri. He's taking us to Disney Land. We'll go there, then we can come back home for a special dinner prepared by both you and me."_

 _"You promise?"_

 _"Have I ever lied to you?"_

 _Iori thought for a moment and shook his head. "No, because papa always says that lying is wrong."_

 _"Good. Now, you go get into your pajamas, and we'll just eat together. I'll have to put your father's food aside."_

 _Iori nodded and took off, while Mrs. Hida brought out a tray to take away her husband's place at the table. She didn't know why doing so, made her almost want to cry. 'I have to get a hold of myself. Why am I feeling this way?'_

 _After returning the tray to the kitchen, and regaining her composure, the phone rang. She rushed to answer it, her heart racing, hoping that it was her husband. "Moshi-moshi...Hida residence."_

 _The person to respond, was a male with a somewhat gruff voice, who sounded a bit unenthusiastic._

 _"Is something wrong?"_

 _"Hello there, Hida-san," the man on the other end replied slowly._

 _"Hello?"_

 _"I-I don't know how to tell you this, but..." he trailed off, as he tried to figure out a way to get the words out._

 _"Tell me what?" That feeling of dread was now returning to her; she had the feeling that something was most definitely wrong. "May I ask who's speaking?"_

 _"I'm sorry for being so rude, ma'am. I am Officer Suzuki of the Kanto Kanku Keisatsu-kyoku (Kanto Regional Police Bureau)."_

 _"Suzuki?" She thought for a moment, trying to recall who this man was. "Oh, I remember you, Suzuki-san! You were at the company gathering last summer. Hiroki-san speaks very highly of you. Are you and your family still enjoying your stay here in Tokyo since you've transferred here last year?"_

 _"It's very nice that Hida-senpai has said nice things about me, and yes, my family and I like it here very much," the man stated plainly. "It's much different than Niigata, but we've gotten used to it."_

 _"You and your wife should join Hiroki-san and me some time for a dinner out. It's rare that we get to see you or Officer Takahoshi around." She noticed that the other end had gone quiet. Was he calling from a mobile phone? "Oh, I'm sorry for going so off topic, Suzuki-san. What is it that you wanted to tell me? I'm sure it's a message from my husband."_

 _"Not exactly..."_

 _Mrs. Hida opened up a carton of fruit juice, and began to pour its contents into a glass so that Iori could have it with his dinner. "What do you mean?"_

 _The dark-haired man, sighed uneasily as he ran his hand through his head, trying to deliver the disheartening news. "I am, well, afraid to inform you that...your husband...a great man, that Hida-senpai," he rambled, "was...was...killed while trying to protect a very important Government Official today."_

 _Mrs. Hida couldn't believe what she'd just heard. It couldn't be true; there was no way possible of this being true. She stood there, her eyes wide and in shock, as the juice she was pouring spilled over. She didn't even realize that she had done so, and was still holding the carton, pouring, even though it was completely empty._

 _At that very moment, Iori had made his way back into the kitchen in his Sandopan (Sandslash) pajamas that he'd received not too long ago from his grandfather. He'd always loved Sando (Sandshrew) and Sandopan. He never understood why those two particular Pokemon in general were favored by him. He just enjoyed the way they were, and how they could "dig" underground and such. Iori noticed the mess, and his mother's blank, shocked look while holding the cordless phone limply in her hand._

 _"Mama, you spilled the juice all over the floor," he told her, while pulling on her sleeve. Iori noticed the look his mother was wearing; it didn't seem cheery or anything, like it would be usually. "Mama, what's wrong?"_

 _She didn't say anything, as she held the phone in her hand. She felt as if she was in another world. "His partner should be over shortly to explain all of the details, Hida-san," he replied sadly. "I really am sorry about this, Hida-san. I really am."_

 _"Okay...okay...goodbye," she managed to get out before dropping the phone onto the floor._

 _"Mama?"_

 _Mrs. Hida walked away from the mess, like some type of a zombie, and took a seat at the table. After a couple of seconds of eerie silence, the woman just broke down and cried. She just couldn't bring herself to accept the fact that her husband was dead, and was even more distraught over the fact that she'd have to share this information with Iori._

 _As much as he tried, Iori still couldn't get his mother's attention, and was starting to grow a bit scared over the fact that she wasn't responding to him._

 _A short while later, a knock on the door was heard. His mother was still in a state of shock and borderline denial, and was pretty much wailing. Iori could only shrug, as he made his way towards the front door, asking who it was first, of course, as he'd always been taught to never open the door to strangers. Recognizing the voice of the male at the door, the boy stood on tip-toe to open it._

 _The man to stand before him was the partner of Iori's father, as well as one of his best friends; Takahashi Oumori. Normally, his father's other good friend, Oikawa Yukio, hanged around, but he wasn't this time. As a matter of fact, it was rare to see the reclusive man at all lately. Iori didn't really know him all that well, and neither did his mother, but his father spoke highly of him quite often. One could probably count on one hand how many times Oikawa had actually visited the Hida household within the previous year._

 _Iori let Mr. Takahashi in. He still didn't understand what was going on, why his mother had left such a mess, why she was crying, or why Mr. Takahoshi was in his home when his father wasn't._

 _"Thank you, Iori-kun..." he thanked him quietly, as he stepped out of his shoes. "Where is your mother?"_

 _He led him to the table, where the woman continued to cry. After seeing her in such a state, the only thing he could say, his voice mournful and quiet to her, was, "I guess you received the news already."_

 _"I don't understand what's going on!" Iori complained, wanting some answers. "Where is papa, Takahashi-san? Is he with Oikawa-san?"_

 _Mrs. Hida rose from the spot she'd been in for so very long, and spoke in a gentle voice as she addressed Takahashi, asking if he would like any tea, which he politely declined._

 _Iori could tell from her tone, that whatever was going on couldn't have been good. She kneeled down and hugged Iori tightly, as some of her tears fell on top of the young boy's head._

 _"Mama?" With a sob, she let go of him, and held him by the shoulders. Iori's perplexed look was even more evident now. "Mama, what's going on? Why are you crying?"_

 _She took in a deep breath, and painfully explained to Iori that his father had been killed and how he'd never physically come home. Iori stood there in shock, extremely quiet. He didn't understand much where death was concerned, but he did understand enough to know that it was permanent and that he'd never see his father again._

 _Officer Takahashi explained everything to them, as he tried his best not to cry himself. Takahashi wasn't there to witness the account, but he told the two of Mr. Hida's heroism, and how he was trying to talk the radicals into putting down their weapons while he, himself, was unarmed; no gun nor vest. Iori could no longer take the negative tone of the depressing conversation and ran off screaming, "I HATE THEM! THEY TOOK PAPA AWAY FROM US!" and cried, slamming his bedroom door behind him._

 _Mrs. Hida was at a loss as to what to do, as she stared after her only son..._

x x x x  
'Oh Iori, I'm sorry you had to go through all of that, and I'm even more sorry that that promise was broken in that way. I'm sorry that you didn't have the opportunity to know your father as well as you should have.

'I shouldn't feel guilty; it was just his time to go, which I'm sure Iori understands...but, we rarely ever talk about Hiroki-san, even though we visit his grave often and pray here at home. Maybe we should talk about him more.

'I remember Iori's reaction to the trial all too well. The man who killed Hiroki-san apologized, and how the gun going off was just an accident. They were only trying to scare the man my husband was trying to protect. Iori's look was filled with pure hatred and malice; a look I'd _never_ seen with him before. Everyone deserves to be forgiven, even if he did something horrible. If he's truly sorry for what was done, then it shouldn't be held against him, right?

'Iori became extremely serious after that. He was no longer the playful, happy child I'd been so used to, since it was robbed of him. He took everything seriously, even games. If someone cheated, and he knew it, he'd lecture on how it's wrong, and how cheating symbolized 'evil' and how they weren't worthy of his time. He couldn't get along with the other children when in his first year of elementary.

'We had to move from out of that house, since everything there was painful and had to switch schools because of Iori. We had to get away from all of that negativity and sadness. I'm forever grateful that ojiisan started teaching him Kendo, and I'm also glad that he met Miyako-chan when he was seven after moving to this section of Odaiba. He started to lighten up and began to act like a child again, though not entirely, since he did still act serious, but didn't go around criticizing the other children, either...'

"Yoo-hoo," Mr. Hida called while waving a hand in front of his daughter-in-law's face, "anybody home in there?"

She jumped. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was just thinking about some things."

"What type of things? You were deep in thought for a good while."

"I'll discuss it later; I just wish Iori would hurry up and come home. I want to talk with him to see how he truly feels over the death of his father. He's always seemed okay, but since he's getting older, maybe it's bothering him. I get this feeling that he never fully coped with his death..."

"I don't feel that any person ever does," the old man inputted wisely.

Before she could respond, the phone rang. She sighed in exasperation. "Hold on." The ringing of the phone was starting to grate her nerves. She took in a deep breath to calm herself before answering. "Moshi-moshi." The person on the other end spoke, which surprised her, since it was rare for this woman to call. "Izumi-san, why are you calling? Are you okay?"

"Oh no," apologized Mrs. Hida, "I'm just surprised that you called since it's not often that you do. I apologize for my rude response. What's the matter?"

"No, I haven't seen Koushirou-kun. It's been a while since I've seen him, and whenever I do see him around here, he's usually with Miyako-chan. I guess my seeing him less and less has a lot to do with the fact that he's in his last year of junior high, which is always the most difficult since they're usually preparing for high school entrance exams."

"No, Iori isn't here yet, but when he comes home, I'll be sure to ask if he's seen or heard from your son."

While Mrs. Hida was busy on the phone, Mr. Hida, had heard a knock, and went to answer it. At the door, was a beautiful, young blonde-haired woman with big, bright blue eyes (usually), only this time they were red and puffy, like she'd been crying. He let her in, and led her to the couch.

' _What_ is going on around here,' Mrs. Hida wondered while hanging up the phone. 'First Miyako-chan hasn't come home, and now Koushirou-kun is missing.' She rejoined her father-in-law, to see a blonde-haired woman crying hysterically. "*Natsuko-san?! What's the matter?"

"M-my Takeru is missing!"

"Natsuko-san, calm down." She sat down beside her. "Everything will be okay."

"I'll go prepare some tea," Mr. Hida offered as he took to the kitchen.

"Now, what do you mean Takeru-kun is missing?"

"The exact way that I said it," the woman continued to sob. "Takeru is missing, and so is Hikari-chan! Her mother called looking for her. I also just watched some of the news, and there was some commotion going on down at that new pizza place and that's where Takeru and his friends were supposed to have been going!

"They found a _hat_ down there! It looked exactly like Takeru's! He picked it out when I took him to visit his grandfather in Paris. My father got it for him and he's loved it ever since! He usually never takes it off, except for when he has to! He'd never just leave it behind unless something happened! I wouldn't even be worrying right now, if I hadn't have heard that brief report earlier about a disappearance! I didn't see the entire thing."

"Wh-what?"

Right at that moment, Mr. Hida returned with a tray, and set it out on the table, pouring out a cup for the three of them. When done, he flipped on the television, which was common for him at that time, to Fuji TV. "Hmm, looks like a news special is on..." he noted, as he took a seat. He felt it had to have been important since his usual program wasn't on.

"Hello there everyone," the TV anchor greeted. "This is Yamauchi Mari here coming to you live from Aqua City Odaiba for FNN with your evening news recaps, as well as more on the strange abductions from earlier. Now, as we reported earlier today, there were some strange happenings occurring right here in Odaiba. Eye witnesses claimed to have seen a tornado right here in Aqua City, which didn't cause any damage, but apparently, it caused an actual abduction. I'm here right now with one of the eye witnesses."

The young anchorwoman turned to the eye witness, who commented, "I saw it with my own eyes!"

"Hello sir. Would you please introduce yourself to our viewers?"

He nodded. "*Yoshihiro Isao dasu."

"Yoshihiro-san, could you now please explain to our viewers what happened?"

The somewhat chubby man wearing the bright blue shirt and beige pants nodded. It was quite obvious that he wasn't from the Kanto region based on his vernacular. His accent was more so westernized (he had a bit of a drawl), as if from the western region of Japan.

"I was sitting at that pizza place there," he pointed to the outdoor parlour, "having myself a late lunch, when this tornado just formed from out of no place! When I saw it, I took out my phone, and started recording it. I never knew Odaiba got strange storms like that. I had just got in from Shiba Park since I've always liked visiting Tokyo Tower, and was about to visit a relative, but was a bit hungry."

For the viewers at home, they began to show the footage that the man had recorded. Miss Yamauchi asked the man to explain it, as they had a monitor there for him to view.

"See, this is when I first started filming. The strangest thing about this tornado, other than the fact that it didn't cause any damage, was that there were a couple of kids nearby. It looked like those two kids I saw got pulled right into it after that big flash of light, but it's probably a bit difficult to make out since it is just a camera phone. I'm surprised no one else got footage of it."

"This _is_ indeed a strange occurrence, and this was found nearby at the scene." She held up a dingy-white object. "It appears to be a hat, which we showed you viewers earlier. The owner is nowhere to be found, and fits the description of the boy who was wearing it before he mysteriously vanished."  
x x x x  
"That _is_ Takeru's hat!" Ms. Takaishi trembled. "I told you that it was his! I knew I saw it right!"  
x x x x  
"Hold on, this just in," Miss Yamauchi started while listening to what was being fed to her through her earpiece. "Apparently, there was trouble down at the..." she blinked in surprise, "Fuji TV station? This _is_ quite surprising. We go there live now with Nishiyama Kenji-san for the report."

The screen split, showing Mr. Nishiyama standing in front of the Fuji TV station, while Miss Yamauchi was shown at the pizza parlor.

"It seems that the same thing happened here earlier this afternoon, Yamauchi-san," Mr. Nishiyama informed her. "Eye witnesses claim that a young boy fitting the description of Ishida Yamato, the lead member for the Teen-Age Wolves, was taken into a strange vortex. Ishida Hiroaki-san is the station manager here, and is also the father of this young, 16-year-old boy."  
x x x x  
"Yamato! Not my Yamato!" the woman screamed hysterically. "That no good ex of mine, letting Yamato get abducted!"

"Hold on, Natsuko-san," Mrs. Hida pleaded, trying to calm the woman, "maybe it wasn't him. Maybe it was someone who strongly resembled your boys. Maybe that hat doesn't belong to Takeru-kun."

Ms. Takaishi began to rock back and forth, her eyes growing even puffier and red, too delirious to do anything. "I've lost both of my boys," she sobbed into a tissue, not really taking in anything her friend was saying.  
x x x x  
The screen was no longer split, and just showed Mr. Nishiyama. "We have a couple of girls who witnessed this abduction, and called it in. Here we have 19-year-old Motomiya Jun-san and her friend, 20-year-old Kokiri Mai-san." He turned to the two girls. "Could you please explain what happened in your own words?"

The camera panned out as he held his microphone to the two, allowing them to tell their story. "We were just on our way to the station to pick up our pre-ordered tickets and passes for tomorrow night's show and to meet up with our friend, Inoue Momoe-chan," the maroon, big-haired Jun explained. "We saw Yamato-kun coming from out of the station."

The long-haired girl beside Jun nodded and added on, "We saw this lightning bolt strike the tower up on top of the Fuji TV station, and then it hit him, but the bolt looked like it was from far off. He looked like he was in terrible pain, too."

"After that, we saw this weird looking vortex open up in the sky, and it pulled him right in!"

"Do you two girls know Yamato-kun well enough to know that it was actually him? Could there be a case of mistaken identity?"

"I've never met him directly, but Jun-chan seems to know him personally."

"Not really," Jun slightly blushed. "He was just a pretty face, who I strongly admired when I was younger. I guess we're so-so friends now. I still talk to him sometimes, if I happen to see him."

Also with the two girls, were two tall guys, who were waiting to be addressed by the reporter; it was both Akira and Yutaka. "Now, please, in _your_ own words, could you describe what happened?"

"We weren't around here when whatever happened, happened," Akira explained. "We were just practicing for our upcoming gig Saturday night. It's going to be one of our most important performances ever!"

"Too bad we couldn't practice long since Ishida had to run."

"And where might that have been?"

"C'mon man," Yutaka exclaimed in disbelief, "isn't that like an invasion of privacy or something?"

"We are just concerned, and wondering if it would help any as to where he may have been taken or ended up."

"I guess we can tell a little," Akira spoke up. "He was planning on meeting up with someone at Daiba Seaside Park; well, that's what he told us anyway."

"Okay, thank you for that information. We will now have a word with the television station's manager, Ishida Hiroaki-san." The camera turned to show an incredibly distressed Mr. Ishida, who looked like he was ready to just break down. "Now, do you have any comments or words for anyone out there, Ishida-san?"

"I'm at a loss right now. I don't understand what's going on, and it doesn't make any sense to me," the middle-aged man sighed. "How can anyone get pulled into the sky? It just doesn't make any sense! I just hope someone can find my son. I have already contacted the police and they are on the job."

"Let us all hope that this goes well for you, Ishida-san." Right at that moment, the man held his ear, receiving some new information. "This just in; the identities of the two children who were abducted this afternoon has been narrowed down and revealed. We go back to Yamauchi-san who has more information on that."

"Thank you, Nishiyama-san. The identities of the two children have been identified based on the objects recovered from the scene. Apparently, they were both first-year students of Odaiba Junior High. The girl has been identified as being Yagami Hikari, age 13, and along with her was Takaishi Takeru, also 13. We are being told that the two didn't remain here long and it appeared that the two were leaving.

"The hat, we have determined, belonged to him. The police are now contacting the parents of these two children to let them know what's going on. Until we know what we are dealing with, we recommend that all school-bound children remain inside their homes. We don't know why these three children have been taken or why they could've been taken, and would like to avoid any more vanishings if possible."

She held her earpiece again, getting more information. "Hold on, I'm getting another update. According to this, ever since this broadcast, we are getting more and more phone calls about missing children and there was a strange occurrence over at *Odaiba Chuukoutou Gakuen (お台場中高等学園); the private institution known for their outstanding academic achievers. It's another disappearance. We will have more details on that as soon as they come in.

"As for right now, the young people we are sure of are as follows: Yagami Hikari, Takaishi Takeru, and Ishida Yamato. To add on to the list, we now have had calls come in about a first-year student of Odaiba High, Yagami Taichi; Takenouchi Sora, also a first year at Odaiba High; Motomiya Daisuke, a first year of Odaiba Junior High; Ichijouji Ken, also a first year of Odaiba Junior High; Izumi Koushirou, a third-year-student of Odaiba Junior High, Inoue Miyako, a second-year student also from Odaiba Junior High, and a third year, Meihui Chiu. It seems that school officials are calling in about these students, as their belongings are at the schools, but the children aren't. If anyone has _any_ information on these missing children, _please_ contact your local precinct as soon as possible, or contact us, so that we can help assist the police in their investigation and search."

The screen split once again showing both Mr. Nishiyama (at the Fuji TV station) and Miss Yamauchi in Aqua City Odaiba. "I hope that this broadcast will help them return home." The man noticed the looks on the faces of those with him, Mr. Ishida and Jun's the most notable. "Ishida-san, Motomiya-san; what is the matter?"

"Did Yamauchi-san just mention Takaishi Takeru?"

"What about Motomiya Daisuke!" Jun panicked.

"Yes, that's what I heard, and we all just watched her broadcast."

"Oh no, my brother!"

"Oh my god...my son!"

"Um, folks, it seems that Takaishi Takeru-kun is also the son of Ishida-san, and this Motomiya Daisuke-kun is the younger brother of our eye witness, Motomiya-san."

"I don't want you guys to give up your search!" Mr. Ishida seriously instructed. "I want you to find _both_ of my sons, and all the kids involved, even if it takes you all night and day! I want Takeru home with his mother, safe and sound!"

"And find my brother!" Jun ordered. The girl began to cry, as she grabbed Mr. Nishiyama's microphone, and stepping close to the camera. "Daisuke, if you're listening to this, please be okay and don't worry! Wherever you are, we _will_ find you!"

"There you have it; two people who are close with the victims," Miss Yamauchi announced from her end. "So, if you can, please help. Are these indeed strange alien abductions, or are they just very clever kidnappings? Only time will tell. We now go to Morimoto Reika-san live with the weather and we will be back with any further information dealing with the strange disappearances of...hold on, I'm getting a name on the private academy situation. The name of this student is Kido Jou, a 17 year old in his second year and-"

Mrs. Hida turned the television off. This was growing rather depressing. Ms. Takaishi stood up. "I'm going out _right_ now!"

"But Natsuko-san, you can't go out in the state of mind that you're in."

"I don't care!" she snapped, her hair flying as she shook her head. "Both of my boys are missing! I don't care about anything else right now! I'm going out to look for them!"

"It'll probably be best if we..." Mrs. Hida stopped shortly, as something came to her mind. All of the children who were abducted were Chosen Children; Iori hadn't come home yet, and the report had gone on for at least twenty minutes. She hoped that the connection she had been sub-consciously making turned out to mean nothing. "I really wish Iori would hurry home."

"It _is_ quite strange how he hasn't returned yet, unless that girl has his full undivided attention, and the boy just lost track of the time."

"Ojiisan, could you describe the girl you saw Iori with? Maybe I know her mother or father." Mrs. Hida nodded as the man described the girl to her, knowing at once who it was. "That sounds like Eiji-chan."

*"Eiji?" He scratched his head. 'What kind of a name is that for a girl?"

"I met her family at a school meeting a while back. I'm a pretty good friend of her mother's. We go marketing together. I'll go give her a call to see if Iori is over there."

Mrs. Hida made her way to the phone to call Eiji's mother, while Ms. Takaishi was pacing around impatiently, trying to figure out what she should do. While on the phone, Mrs. Hida noticed how frantic and anxious the middle-aged woman sounded. When asked if Eiji was around, the woman explained while sobbing that she had sent her out to pick up groceries and how she should have been home over an hour ago. She asked if she'd seen her, which she explained that she hadn't, and that she was with her son. She felt a ping of worry, and held her stomach. Eiji's mother wasn't helping the situation at all.

"I'm going out to look for them! Something's not right. I don't usually get too worried if they're late, but this time I can't help it, especially with the strange abductions." There was some talking on the other end. "Oh, you want to come along too?...Alright! We'll be over there soon. See you later." After putting down the receiver, the woman burst into tears.

"What's the matter," Mr. Hida asked in alarm.

"Eiji-chan wasn't home, and she should've been home a long while ago! Something has happened to her, and if something has happened to her, then something has to have happened to Iori! I'm going out to search for them!"

"Wait, for all we know, the two could be on a date."

"Father, you know Iori better than that! He's not the inconsiderate type! He would let us know if he'd changed his mind about coming home! He always has!" She turned to her blonde companion. "Natsuko-san, let's go."

She stopped pacing in place and nodded. "Right!"

"I will remain here, just in case someone returns."

"Good idea, father. Thank you."

The two women were about to go, when they heard a knock on the front door. After answering, there stood a girl who was about 19 years of age, with long brown hair and thin-rimmed glasses, breathing hard as if she'd just run a marathon.

"Momoe-chan," the two responded.

"Good evening Hida-san, Takaishi-san. I'm sorry, but..."

Mr. Hida walked up to the door, holding a glass of water. "Calm down child. Here, drink this."

The girl graciously took the water, and gulped it down. "Thank you. I'm sorry about that. I ran all the way up here from the mart."

"Momoe-chan, what's wrong? Come in." Mrs. Hida asked in surprise.

The older girl stepped in a bit more into the genkan. "It's my mother. She's going crazy! Once she saw that news report and how it seems like only Chosen Children are missing, she grew all worried and called the police! She tried Miyako's mobile phone too and got no answer. It said that she's out of the calling area. She thinks she's been abducted too.

"My parents have already left for *Kasumigaseki to get to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, while *Mantarou-niichan watches the mart. *Chizuru and I are going to go out and look around for her. Our folks already talked to the officer around here, but they're getting antsy and heading out there anyway."

Before Momoe could continue, her 16-year-old, short-haired sister ran up behind her. She too was out of breath from running up the flight of stairs. Both were too anxious to wait on the elevator. "Well, have they seen him?" asked the girl anxiously.

"I didn't get the chance to ask yet." She turned back to the three adults. "Have you guys seen Iori-kun? Maybe he has an idea where Miyako could be."

Mrs. Hida shook her head sadly, as she explained how they were on their way out to look for Iori.

"Could Chizuru and I come along with you?"

"Of course."

"Let's just go find my boys," Ms. Takaishi choked out between sobs.

With that, they all left to fetch Eiji's mother, and to commence their search...

Author's Notes

Note 1: In Japan, Pokemon airs on Thursday evenings at 7:00 on TV Tokyo, and still airs in this slot to this day. The show also doesn't air everyday, like stuff is here. It's a weekly show. It does come on a few times during the week; about three for their regular showing, and the other times are different variations of the show which get rerun, such as the first series, Advanced Generations, etc.. Pokemon also originally started in April of 1997. For the flashback, it's taking place in the summer of 1997, if you did your math. Of course, I have no idea at what portion of the year Iori's father was killed, so I just decided to use summer. I also chose summer since that's a good while before the seizure episode aired in Japan and I wanted Iori to be a Pokemon fan. lol After the seizure episode, Pokemon was yanked off the air in Japan for a few months.  
x x x  
Note 2: This is Takeru and Yamato's mother's original name; Takaishi Natsuko.  
x x x  
Note 3: Yes, the "dasu" in the sentence, "Yoshihiro Isao dasu" was intentional. A few sentences down, it is pointed out that this guy seemed to have an accent, like someone would from west Japan, due ot his accent and dialect. I was pretty much implying that he may have been from the "Kansai" region. The Kansai region includes places such as Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe, etc. Those from there tend to drag their words, or speak with a "drawl", I guess one could say.

Those from the Kanto region (which includes special wards like Odaiba), don't, since they tend to speak in Tokyo-ben, if you can call it that. For this very reason, that's why for some anime series, when dubbed over, a character from one of the places mentioned above of the Kansai region, tends to have a country-sounding accent; that's pretty much the equivalent of how those from those areas of Japan speak.  
x x x  
Note 4: Odaiba Chuukoutou Gakuen (お台場中高等学園) pretty much means, the Odaiba Junior and Senior High Academy. I was seriously blank on names. Jou is the only character who has never had his schools mentioned outside of the two elementary schools he went to (Daigo Elementary in Hikarigaoka and Odaiba Elementary). They never mentioned his junior high school and even though Tri is out now, his high school hasn't been mentioned for that either. I guess second would be Koushirou. His kindergarten/preschool was never mentioned. He mentioned he was in kindergarten during the time during the Greymon vs Parrotmon battle, but didn't give a name like Mimi did for hers (Wakaba).  
x x x  
Note 5: Yes, all; the name "Eiji" _is_ a masculine name, which was pointed out by Iori a couple of chapters back. One of the kanji readings for it (英二) can mean "great second son". I know you're wondering why I chose such a name for her. To be honest, I have no idea. I just wanted a boyish name for her. Although, I probably could've just used a unisex name for her, like Aki, Hikaru, Jun, Haruka, etc., but Eiji seems more interesting sounding..  
x x x  
Note 6: Mantarou, Momoe, and Chizuru are the real names of Miyako's older siblings. Mantarou is the oldest, and is the one who was in college during 02. Momoe was in high school during 02, and best friends with Jun (Daisuke's sister). She has the long hair. Chizuru has the short hair, and is in the same year as Taichi, Sora, and Yamato. She was also in Yamato's class during 02.

Note 7: Kasumigaseki (霞ヶ関) is a district of the Chiyoda Ward in Tokyo. It's inland. You can reach there from Odaiba by car or train.

Fic Chapter Changes

Officer Suzuki was originally a foreigner (I forgot the name I'd given him then) from the UK who transferred to Japan. It would be highly unlikely for a foreigner to be a police officer in Japan, unless born and raised in Japan, I'm assuming.

I changed the news reporter, Yamauchi Mori to Yamauchi Mari.

I changed Odaiba Shigaku no Chinou (Odaiba Private School of intelligence) to Odaiba Chuukoutou Gakuen (Odaiba Junior and Senior High Academy). Neither are original, though and I do feel this is a better title than what it was originally, but still not all that great.


	12. Unexpected Trip

Hi again everyone. I really do hope you're enjoying this story so far. For this chapter, all of the children are headed to the Digital World, and coming across some of the others while traveling. Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon anime, manga, games, etc.

Chapter 12: "私はどこいるんだ？誰がいるの？"  
"Watashi wa doko irunda? Dare ga iru no?"  
"Where am I? Is anyone there?" The Unexpected Trip...

All of the Chosen Children found themselves entrapped as if going through a tunnel of time. Winds surrounded them, as they seemed to be in the eye of the funnel. Neither knew of the other kids' presence, aside from the ones he or she had been separated from. It was dark within this windy area, but enough light for each to see oneself.

"Michael! Michael, where are you!" Mimi called out, despite the fact that she seemed to be flying. "MICHAEL!"  
x x x x  
"Miyako-kun! Miyako-kun!" Koushirou shouted loudly. 'I hope nothing bad has happened to her!' He cupped his hands around his mouth, and called out for her again, his gentle voice echoing…  
x x x x  
"Hikari-chan! If you can hear me, please answer!" Takeru received no answer, as he continued to be jerked and thrown about, like the others within the strange, dark, windy vortex. "Hikari-chan!"  
x x x x  
"Ken! Are you there buddy?" The boy didn't receive an answer, growing panicky. This just wasn't normal. "Ken! Where are you!"  
x x x x  
"Sora! Where are you! SORA!"  
x x x x  
"Taichi, Sora," Yamato yelled out confusedly, "are you guys there?"  
x x x x  
"Eiji-san! Eiji-san, where are you," Iori frantically called. "Are you okay? Eiji-san!"  
x x x x  
As the unusual trip through the dimly lit tunnel continued, each child began to notice an unusual glow coming from the center of their chests.  
x x x x  
Miyako looked down, her long lavender hair blowing wildly in the wind. "What's this? What's this strange glow?"  
x x x x  
'The center of my chest,' Iori placed his hand there curiously, 'it's glowing in two shapes, and now forming into one…but, what is it…'  
x x x x  
Sora smiled contently. 'I know what this is…'  
x x x x  
Jou placed his hand over his chest, as if examining it. '…it's the crest within my heart somehow…'  
x x x x  
'This glow…it's taking the form of my Crest of Kindness,' noted Ken.  
x x x x  
"Could this be a crest?" Miyako shook her head. "No, it can't be; I've never had one. What does this mean?"  
x x x x  
"My old Crest of Purity is lighting my way…"  
x x x x  
"…but what is it leading me to?" Koushirou wondered out aloud. "Where is my crest light shining towards? How can I reach it?"  
x x x x  
As the glow from each child grew stronger, the individual vortexes surrounding each, was beginning to vanish, the beam allowing each child to see one another…  
x x x x  
'My old Crest of Hope is shining towards someone, but who is it?' Takeru squinted his eyes, trying to get a good look at the person who seemed to be coming into view. His eyes went wide, recognizing the boy who seemed to be floating ahead of him. " _Dai_ suke-kun?"  
x x x x  
"What's going on? Where am I going? It's a bit dark in here, but the only light I see is the one coming from this weird glow I have." The maroon-haired boy looked down. 'What's this weird shape glowing in the center of my chest? It looks a bit like the shape that was on that Golden Digimental I found a few years ago. V-mon ended up armor evolving to Magnamon! Now what did he say after evolving? Something about miracles…

'…oh yeah! I remember now. He said, *'Kiseki no kagayaki, Magnamon!' This glow, it's forming the shape that was on the Digimental of Miracles, but what does this mean?'

Just like the others, he saw a beam of light coming towards him, just as his was going towards the person coming into view. He strained his eyes. "Is that…Hikari-chan?!"  
x x x x  
"My light seems to be leading me to someone," Hikari concurred, as she pretty much ignored the other outrageous stuff that'd happened so far. "Maybe it'll help me to find Takeru-kun. I'm pretty sure he got caught in that strange tornado just like I was."

Her light finally reached the person, but he was still far off. "Is that…Takeru-kun?" She shook her head, realizing that this person didn't have the trademark Takaishi blonde hair, like both he and his brother shared. "No, wait; that's not Takeru-kun, tha-that's…Daisuke-kun?"  
x x x x  
Yamato continued the unusual trip, growing quite frustrated, his hands bawled at his side. He just wanted to get to Sora. "Where are you taking me!? What the hell do you want with me!? If I have to fight my way out of here, I _will_!" His tone then grew lighter, and a bit gentler and partially worrisome as a certain tennis player came to mind. "Sora, please, answer me! Where are you?"

His chest then formed a familiar shape; his blue Crest of Friendship. The glow coming from it began to shine straight ahead towards someone.

'Is that Sora?' he wondered in thought as he tried to get a better look. "No wait…that's not Sora. _Jou_?!" He blinked. 'What's Jou doing here?'

"Yamato-kun?"  
x x x x  
"I don't get this. Where am I going? How come it seems like I have my powers back from my Crest of Purity if we all sacrificed that power to make that seal for the sovereigns? What is my Crest of Purity leading me to?"

The bright green light from her crest shined in front of her, and just like with the others, a single crest light shined back at her. The familiar figure came into view, who Mimi identified almost immediately. " _Kou_ shirou-kun?"

"Mimi-san?"  
x x x x  
After each child seemed to find at least one other, each began to go through a drastic metamorphosis.  
x x x x  
"It feels like my body is changing," Koushirou observed, "but this is, of course, scientifically impossible…"  
x x x x  
"This isn't happening!" Jou shouted; his voice panicky. "This _just_ can't be happening to me!"  
x x x x  
'What is happening to me?! This isn't natural! What am I going to do about Eiji-san? Is she all right wherever she is?'  
x x x x  
"What in the world is going on!" Takeru panicked, as he noticed his voice growing higher in pitch, and his limbs growing shorter. "Why is my body shrinking!"  
x x x x  
During the transformation process, each heard a light, voice. This voice was gentle and angelic, which none of the children could find any reason to fear. It told them, "Do not worry; all will be explained to you very soon."

After the process was complete, the tunnel finally managed to disappear, causing each child to end up scattered in different locations…

Auhtor's Note

Note 1: I only have one note for this chapter. Kiseki no Kagayaki, Magnamon, roughly means, "The shining miracle, Magnamon!"


	13. Welcome to the Digital World!

Here we are, the next chapter for you. The Digital World adventure shall soon begin. The children are now in the Digital World, physical changes and all. This chapter features Koushirou and Mimi awaking in the Digital World, and both are incredibly confused over all that's happened. Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with Digimon's anime, manga, or games. Bandai and Toei have that pleasure.

Chapter 13: "安心して下さい、大丈夫です。"  
"Anshin shite kudasai, daijoubu desu."  
"Please,don't worry, everything will be alright." Welcome to the Digital World!

A young woman looked up from her spot, after hearing what her somewhat rare Digimon partner had informed her of. She smiled gratefully as she studied the orb. "I see that they all have arrived here safely, and am grateful that one of them was saved before anything serious could happen." The big crystal orb, which sat on a golden stand, was pretty much this woman's way of viewing all areas of the Digital World within her vicinity.

"If you say so..."

The woman looked away from the crystal, and towards her white Digimon companion. "Why do you sound so doubting?"

"I don't know." She craned her long neck out to get a better look at the orb. "I just feel something's off with this plan."

"Do not be such a pessimist; I'm sure all will go well."

"I know that's how you feel; I'm just hoping that the four guardians know what they are doing."

The silky haired woman stared at her partner indignantly, as if she had smacked her in the face. "You should _never_ doubt the words of our guardians," she fumed while waving a finger. The lady usually remained very calm and reserved, but what her radiant Digimon had insinuated, plucked a nerve within her. "They have told me these things directly, therefore, I believe them. They have never been wrong before, and my visions have never been wrong. The fact that my sense has grown stronger over the years, due to my practicing to perfect it, shows this. Even the great Guardian of the Southern gate is helping, and he's usually been pretty much on his own."

"That is true, I suppose," replied the Digimon, disliking the fact that she'd upset her lifelong friend, "but I can't help the way I feel and I feel that something bad is going to happen."

"Let us continue to watch over the children, and see how they will fair, but I think I'll make it easier to view." The spiritual woman looked to mutter something. Within seconds, a projection came up showing each area where each child should have ended up. It showed a tropical area, a snowy area, a place which was right by the ocean, an industrial looking area, and one place that seemed to be surrounded by fiery pits.

"It seems that you have miscalculated. All of the children are younger now."

"That was my intention. The younger they are, the better their chances."

"How did you manage to do such a thing? I know that last message we received from Gennai-san before we lost all contact mentioned that the enemy would be weaker against literal kids, but as far as I know, you've always only had psychic abilities."

"The guardians have helped me, and I actually do have quite a few extra powers now, which includes my being able to physically manipulate the appearance of the children, the power to open and close gates to their world at will, my psychic ability is enhanced, and I can use such things as telekinesis, which is why I'm meditating and training more."

"But how? That should be impossible for someone of _your_ species."

The woman stood, and kneeled down by the orb. She felt around the stand it was sitting on until she found a button. After pressing the button, a small compartment opened up underneath it. The Digimon could only stare, curious as to what she was retrieving. She took out a wooden box and held it out to her Digimon friend. "This is the key. The Eastern Guardian gave this to me." She opened the wooden box, which held a majestic, white sphere. "This is a Digi-core; its powers are endless and all of its uses are still a mystery, but for now, I was granted the permission to use it due to the upcoming crisis."

"They really _do_ trust you, but it still doesn't explain how you were capable of doing this," the Digimon stated plainly. She turned her attention back to the orb. "It's very odd. Some of these children from what we are seeing here, have clothing that fit, while the others do not. Some seem to even have a mix of both, while some seem to have extra items with them."

"I did the best that I could by using this. I am going to assume that Gennai-san managed to save part of their data after the reformation so that if they were to ever return, the Digital World would recognize them, even if it's just partially. I guess you could think of it as a save point or a system restoration point." She closed the box up, and put it back into the secret compartment underneath the orb. "I hope the children can cope with their changes."

`Qinglongmon-sama (Azulongmon) of the East, Xuanwumon-sama (Zhuqiaomon) of the North, Baihumon-sama of the West, Zhuqiaomon-sama of the South, I hope that you four _truly_ know what you are doing by having these children come here…'  
x x x x  
Koushirou was lain out on the ground, finally awakening from the unusual encounter that had just occurred. As he tried his best to stand, he held his head. He was feeling slightly light-headed from his unusual abduction and fell back to the ground. `I wonder what happened. How long have I been asleep?' He began to fan himself, feeling a bit warm since the sun was shining brightly; although, the sky was a bit of a dark, yellowish color, and there were no trees for shade around at all.

After a brief moment, it all finally came back to him. `Oh no, Miyako-kun! She got pulled into that strange portal just as I was.' The boy checked his pocket, and found his mobile phone, which showed to be of no use. He couldn't get a signal.

Realizing that the phone was a no go, he cupped his hands around his mouth, calling out for his younger friend. After a few shouts, Koushirou heard a light voice mumble, "Quiet down, some people are trying to sleep", in English. He didn't understand what this person had said, but he knew the language whenever he heard it.

Due to his legs still feeling a bit weak, Koushirou crawled towards the sound of the voice. Luckily, the person was a little under a kilometer towards the right of him. He saw a young girl lying down in clothing about two sizes too big for her.

"Miyako-kun?"

He realized that this couldn't have been Miyako. The clothing on the sleeping girl consisted of a red sweater and a green skirt. When separated, Miyako was wearing her school uniform. He crawled a bit closer, to get a better look at the girl. "Um, excuse me..." he shook her gently.

The girl's eyes cracked open. When her vision was clear, she saw that it was a boy, which caused her to sit upright and scoot away slightly. "You pervert," she screamed in English, her right fist bawled and ready to knock Koushirou senseless. "Get out of my room!" The girl swung before Koushirou could even respond.

"Wait, hold it!" the boy pleaded back in attempted English, just barely avoiding the young girl's swing towards his stomach. "This is _not_ your room. I am _not_ trying to hurt you!"

The girl stopped arguing and swinging. Both stared at each other for a moment.

"Mimi-san?"

"Koushirou-kun?"

"How are you?" both asked in unison. "I'm fine, thanks for asking." Both laughed, realizing they had replied at the same time.

Both tried their bests to stand up, but ended up falling back down to the ground with a thump. Both finally realized that their clothing was a bit too big for them, yet, their shoes fit them just fine.

"How come my outfit is so different? My skirt looks like a dress, my shirt looks like something I could use for bed, or either something my mother would wear since it's a bit too big for me, and," she looked down, "my shoes are different. I wasn't wearing any shoes earlier."

Koushirou held his throat. "My voice...it seems different somehow."

The two stood up again. Mimi realized that she was looking down on Koushirou. "You're much shorter than me too. It's been a while since you've been shorter than me."

"This is _not_ prodigious at all! What is going on? I seem to be shorter by at least 10 cm (about 5 inches) and my clothing seems too big for me now."

Mimi was having her own troubles at the moment. Her skirt wasn't too much trouble, especially since she had a belt, but her shirt was showing to be quite bothersome. She had to constantly hold her shirt up to keep it from falling off of her. Her unmentionables were also giving her a bit of a problem, especially where her top was concerned.

"I can't walk around like this, my shirt keeps falling off!" She never really minded revealing her body - the most she ever really revealed of herself was her midriff and legs since she was a skirt-wearing girl - but she never wore really revealing clothing, unless it was a bikini. The idea of her shirt falling down to her ankles showing off her underclothing wasn't something she wanted at all. "I don't like this. What's going on?"

"I have no idea," Koushirou vaguely answered while scratching his head. "I don't even know where we are." The boy squinted his eyes and looked ahead of them through the smoggy atmosphere. "All I see is what looks to be some kind of a factory."

"Could we be in the Digital World?"

"I didn't even think of that…"

Mimi tugged on her hot sweater again. Her fall-like clothes just wasn't meant for the type of area she was forced into. "I wish I had a nice cool change of clothes…" After her statement, Koushirou stood for a moment, as if in deep thought. Mimi cocked an eyebrow at him, about to ask him why he'd suddenly gone quiet.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mimi-san. I just got a bit lost in thought over your situation of walking around in your underclothing, and-"

"You _per_ vert!"

"No, no, I am not thinking of anything like that," Koushirou insisted with a sweat drop. "I was trying to come up with some type of a solution to your problem so that you wouldn't have to resort to degrading yourself in such a fashion."

"Oh…y-you were."

"I have an idea." Koushirou took off his now, overly-big, uniform jacket and handed it to the girl.

"What's this for?"

"I can get along fine without it. It should be big enough to cover you; besides, as I am now, it's too big for me."

Mimi smiled. "Thanks." Even though it was still warm for her, she knew the jacket would be a lot cooler than her heavy sweater and there was no way she was going to wear both. "Could you…you know…"

"Oh yeah, sorry." Koushirou turned around so that Mimi could take off her sweater and bra. When done with the task, she folded up her bra in her sweater, hitched up her skirt to keep from tripping, and gave Koushirou the okay to turn back around. The jacket covered her quite well. It was a bit too big for her, but not to the extent of literally dragging like it was for Koushirou.

"Would you like for me to carry your sweater for you?"

"That's okay. I'll be fine." Mimi figured that he didn't know of her bra being wrapped up in it. `No way I'm going to let him carry my underclothes around.'

"How did you end up here?" Koushirou asked while rolling up the legs of his uniform pants.

"Let's see, Michael and I had just gotten back from hanging out. Michael took me to the 86th Street East, which is a movie theatre over on 86th street in Manhattan, and then we went to a place called _Ray's_ for pizza over on 94th. It has some nice, tasty pizza. If you guys ever visit me, I'll take you there."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Mimi continued on with her story as Koushirou listened closely. After she was finished, Koushirou nodded and uttered, "Interesting."

"We have to find Michael!"

"Don't worry, Mimi-san. He's probably in another part of the Digital World, just as we are. This couldn't be anyplace _but_ the Digital World, especially since I can't get a signal on my phone and the way we arrived here was strange."

"I hope so," she sniffled, wiping away some newly fallen tears. "I hope nothing bad has happened to him."

"I'm pretty convinced that he's okay; we are."

Mimi sighed, not really confident in the young boy's words, but did appreciate what he was trying to do. Knowing she had to get her mind off of Michael, she decided to change the subject, as it wasn't going to help get Michael back any faster. "How did you get here?"

"Miyako-kun and I stayed after school to work on a project of hers. She was programming a short computer game based on our Digimon and our very first adventure; our encounter with Devimon. She even managed to program the game to use the perfect theme for him."

"That's nice, but Devimon is someone I _definitely_ don't want to remember."

"Same here."

"So, what else happened?"

"Well, I continued to play and…"

Koushirou continued on, explaining what had happened, when something hit him.

"Koushirou-kun?"

"Oh no, Meihui-san!"

"Meihui?" Mimi questioned. `That's a pretty name, but it doesn't sound Japanese.'

"Remember I mentioned a fellow student was helping me?!" Mimi nodded. "She was the one helping."

"Who exactly is she?"

"She's a girl from my class who seems to really respect me," he answered in a `no big deal' type of way. "I guess I never mentioned her to you. We really must find both her and Miyako-kun."

"I wish we had a reason why we're here, and where are Palmon and Tentomon?"

"Well, it _has_ been a long time since we saw them last," the boy started dismally, "you don't suppose that they could possibly be-"

"Don't even _say_ it!" Mimi shouted at him before he could even finish.

"I'm sorry, I won't, but do we _really_ know what the lifespan _is_ for a Digimon?"

"Don't you even _think_ such a thing!" Mimi commanded while covering her ears. "I do _not_ want to hear it!" For Mimi, death was still a sensitive issue, and even though she learned that death was inevitable, she still didn't want to accept it at times, this time being one of them.

"But why aren't they here?" he logically questioned while remaining calm. "Usually, whenever we come to the Digital World, they greet us. They always find us; it's rare that we find them. We never do, thinking about it now."

"Maybe we were brought back to the Digital World to help them." Mimi removed her hands from her ears. "Maybe they're in trouble!"

"Hmm, could be. That would _definitely_ explain why they're not here, even though that doesn't explain the drastic physical changes pertaining to us."

"So, what do we do now?"

"I think we should go to that building I saw in the distance. Maybe someone there can help us, or if we're lucky, we'll manage to run into Gennai-san. He knows a lot. Hopefully, he can maybe lead us to the locations of Miyako-kun, Michael-san, and Meihui-san."

Mimi nodded in agreement. It was the best plan they had so far. With that, the two headed towards the building with the many smokestacks …


	14. Waking Up

Hello again everyone. I just thought I'd warn you that this chapter will definitely be long because many characters show up for it. This chapter will include the lady and her Digimon who are watching over the kids and the whereabouts of Takeru, Hikari, Daisuke, Jou, Miyako, Yamato, and Ken. I just wanted to hurry and get more of the characters out of the way.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with Digimon.

Chapter 14: 僕達はどこいるんだ？なぜがここにいるの?"  
"Bokutachi wa doko irunda? Naze ga koko ni iru no?"  
"Where are we? Why are we here?" Waking up in a Strange Land…

Takeru gave out a small moan while lying on something grainy. He determined it to be sand. Salty sea air also tickled his nose, which just confused him even more over what had happened or why he was currently hearing the crashing waves of the ocean.

Curious as to where he was, he opened his eyes slowly, his vision a bit blurred. After opening them completely, he noticed that two people, about his age, were watching over him with concerned looks.

"Good, you finally woke up," the short-haired girl with the whistle around her neck breathed out in relief.

"Are you okay?" the maroon-haired boy beside her asked.

Takeru sat up, and rubbed his eyes to get a better look at the two. "Hikari-chan? Daisuke-kun?" He stood up and noticed his change. "What happened? I thought my body shrinking was all just some weird dream!"

The other two could only shrug in response; they were just as lost. Takeru was smaller than both Daisuke _and_ Hikari, which was a bit annoying for him since he'd grown used of being the tallest of them. He felt like he was eight all over again, when he'd first met Hikari, since he was currently smaller than her. "Daisuke-kun and I haven't been awake for long, but it seems like we've been knocked out here a good while. It's almost night time," Hikari explained. "That aside, we have to figure out where we are, and what's going on."

"I want to know why we're a bunch of kids!" Daisuke muttered hysterically.

Takeru felt his head, realizing that a hat was resting atop it. He'd entered the world without it, so how did it get back? He removed it and stared at it wide-eyed as he finally noticed the rest of his familiar dark green attire. "This hat...my clothes...this is what I wore to summer camp all those years ago when we first met our Digimon."

"Yeah, we've noticed. I'm wearing the same thing too. I even have my whistle that I gave to Tailmon when we had to leave the Digital World the first time." She pointed to the metal object hanging around her neck. "Daisuke-kun, though, isn't wearing his Digital World clothes or the goggles oniichan gave him."

Daisuke thought for a moment, when it came to him. "I think I know what these clothes are. These are the same ones, I think, I was wearing when Vamdemon attacked Odaiba. He had my sister, parents, and me captive at the convention center five years ago when searching for some kid!"

"How could you remember something like that?" Hikari asked.

"It was really scary when it happened, so maybe that's why. Right now, it's like it just happened yesterday, that's how well I'm remembering it." Daisuke looked out at the ocean as the sun set on the horizon, and then back to his friends. "Do you think we're back in the Digital World?"

"But we don't _normally_ age backwards whenever we come to the Digital World," Takeru pointed out.

"We were obviously forced here, Takeru-kun. I think Daisuke-kun might be right. Maybe this is some type of a side effect since we haven't been allowed in the Digital World for so long."

"Maybe you're right, Hikari-chan. I guess that makes sense."

"Getting here was a bit weird. I was in the gym, and then got pulled into this cyclone thing from the basketball hoo...oh no!"

"What's wrong?" Takeru and Hikari asked in unison.

"Ichijouji was with me! We have to find him!"

"That's strange, the same thing happened to Hikari-chan and me. We were on our way back to school when some tornado came down and sucked us right into it. Ichijouji-kun has to be close by since we ended up together."

"But Takeru-kun, it's almost dark. It's late evening; we can't go looking around if we don't know where we're going and the only place for us to go is through that jungle like area back there that Daisuke-kun and I woke up near. It's like we're on a deserted, tropical island."

"We can't just stand around here!" Daisuke argued.

"Let's just think of something to do first," Takeru intervened calmly.

"We may have to camp out here or something."

Daisuke grumbled and crossed his arm. He wanted to leave right then and there, but, realized he was outnumbered, and that Hikari was right. It _was_ getting too dark to go scouting around.

"Takeru-kun, did a part of your chest glow in the shape of your old crest on your way here?"

"Yeah, did the same thing happen for you?"

She nodded. "It's very weird. I just don't understand it."

"I know this is going to sound a bit strange, but the same thing happened to me." Takeru and Hikari both gave the currently goggle-less boy looks of skepticism. "No no, it's true!" he adamantly insisted. "It did the same thing as you guys', but the shape it formed was different. It had the shape of the symbol I saw on that Golden Digimental I activated so that V-mon could armor evolve to Magnamon."

"That settles it then," Takeru slipped his green cap back onto his round head, "we _must_ be back in the Digital World."

"I guess we are, but what can we actually do here? We don't even know what part of the Digital World we're in. I've never been here…I don't think." Hikari looked out at the ocean, the waves crashing serenely. 'Could this be the Dark Ocean, only in the light? Could we have ended up back here?'

"Neither have I."

"Let's make a raft and sail across the ocean!" Daisuke suggested, more energetic than ever. "Maybe we'll meet up with Whamon!"

"What are the chances of us running into the same Whamon?" Hikari asked in surprise. She couldn't believe the naïve boy could seriously suggest doing such a thing.

Daisuke scratched his head. "I don't know; I was just trying to think of something so we can get some help and that's the first thing I could come up with."

"I wonder what my big brother would do if he were here," Takeru thought out aloud.

"Hey, I just realized something. If we're in the Digital World, where are our Digimon?"

Takeru and Hikari looked to be in thought, also finding it strange that they hadn't encountered their friends.

"You know, I haven't seen any Digimon since we've been here," Hikari said.

Something caught Takeru's eye. He glanced towards the jungle, noticing a small, white figure. "Hey, look-it; someone's coming."

The figure rushed right up to the three, and tackled Hikari, giving her a big hug. "I knew you'd come!" the feline Digimon joyously greeted, "I just _knew_ you would! You said we would meet again, and we are now!"

"T-Tailmon! It's so wonderful to see you again!"

"I was on my way here to catch some dinner, when I noticed you three here. I was actually planning to attack you, until I saw the whistle."

"I'm still trying to figure out why I have it if I originally gave it to you after our first adventure here."

Tailmon looked up at the three, a bit puzzled. "Hikari, how come the three of you look smaller than I remember?"

"We don't know. We just woke up this way after getting here."

"Tailmon, do you know why we're here, and where Patamon is?"

"Yeah, and V-mon too."

"I don't know where those two are. I haven't seen them for a good while now."

"Hikari-chan, I just realized something! You were right and I think I just figured something out."

"What was I right about?"

"Remember what you were saying before we ended up being forced through that gate?" She could only shake her head, as she was still a bit awe-stricken over their current predicament. "Well, you said that you sensed we were going to be a little different if we ever saw our Digimon again and we're all younger. We, somehow, aged backwards by at least five years because of what we're wearing and the stuff Daisuke-kun mentioned about Vamdemon when he was in search of you."

"Didn't Hikari-chan say something like that before we left the Digital World about two years ago; about how we were going to see them again?"

Tailmon nodded.

"So _this_ is what she meant! Hikari-chan was sensing it even then! She sure is incredible when it comes to sensing stuff!"

"Tailmon, has anything happened in the Digital World lately that we should know about?"

"You could say that. Quite a few things have been going on around here. There are rumors of a Digimon trying to take over this world again, and to do so, his henchmen have been invading, and trying to conquer different parts of the Digital World for this guy. No one seems to know who's behind it, even Tentomon who's usually on top of things like that. I know he's trying to get more information, though.

"We Digimon decided to stay in an area each to try and help protect it, just like how Agumon and the others did a few years ago when the Digimon Kaiser was still in power and constantly sent out his controlled Digimon. Not sure if the rumors are true that we're about to enter another dark time, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. We usually get along fine here; for a Digimon to just randomly attack an area, and not showing any signs of being controlled or infected is just unusual and unnatural, unless it's dealing with territorial issues between two opposing Digimon, but this isn't the case. These Digimon are literally invading and killing any Digimon within their path that oppose them."

"Aww, Tailmon. That's terrible!" Hikari's eyes glistened, as she hugged her partner. "Don't worry; we're here now."

"A lot of good _that's_ doing," Daisuke stubbornly muttered, "we still don't know what we're supposed to be doing or why we're here."

"We have to stop those guys from hurting any more innocent Digimon," Takeru said with determination, "and we have to find out what they want to do to the Digital World, and to find Ichijouji-kun."

"That's the spirit." Tailmon was grateful that the kids were so anxious to help.

"Tailmon, how come there are no Digimon around here?"

"Most have taken refuge, or currently hiding right now. It's sad how the Digimon around here have to keep themselves hidden just in case there's an enemy attack. Most of the Digimon around here are very low levels."

"If they're low levels, how come they're not at the nursery (Primary Village) for Elecmon to take care of? It was fun helping him out that time."

"Once the Digimon reach a certain level, they go off on their own. The ones around here are still very young; Baby II (In-training). You'll probably see some of them later, once they realize that you guys aren't enemies."

"Tailmon, do you know where Patamon is so that we can go to him?"

"And what about V-mon?"

"No, not really," she told them once again. "Those two could be anywhere, but we could try looking for them. They seem to goof off sometimes when nothing's going on. Both should try to be more responsible, like Hawkmon or Tentomon."

"Yay, I get to see Patamon again!" Takeru cheered.

"Whoo-hoo! I'm going to get to see V-mon!" Daisuke jumped around.

"We'll have to wait a while before we even consider going, though. It's getting late, and you three must be hungry or tired."

"No way, we're fine!" Daisuke's stomach growled. "Well, a small bite to eat wouldn't hurt."

"I refuse to lead you three anyplace until you've eaten and rested. It'll also be easier to navigate when it's lighter out. It's easy to get lost in this area if you're not native to it. We'll head out first thing in the morning."

"So we're camping out?"

"Yeah, it's for the best. I have a small hut that's not too far from here. We can make up some beds so that you can rest, and I can get you something to eat. Hope you don't mind fish, pineapple, coconut, banana, and other tropical fruits."

"Sounds good to me," Takeru spoke up. "I can't wait."

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

"When we get back, Hikari, maybe Daisuke and Takeru can help with bringing in firewood, while you and I prepare the meal."

The three nodded, and followed the feline back into the tropical forest to prepare to eat, swap stories (Daisuke and Takeru especially, since they were anxious to see their Digimon partners), and rest...  
x x x x  
In another part of the Digital World, in a woodsy area two boys were running for their lives. Running was a bit difficult for the two since their clothing was a bit too big for them, and running around nude wasn't even considered an option. The two did have their height to make up for it, but the blue-haired boy's khaki pants and the spiky blonde-haired boy's dark jeans, were still a bit too long. Lucky for them, they didn't seem to have any trouble with their shoes. They, miraculously, fit, as they were the same exact ones they'd worn years earlier when traveling the Digital World before.

"This...can't...be...happening," the 12-year-old boy managed to get out between breaths, incredibly tired since he had a dark-blue duffle bag hanging off his skinny shoulder.

"Don't talk, Jou," the 11-year-old blonde instructed, "just keep running!"

"Who says I'm going to stop!"

Jou and Yamato, just like the others, had aged backwards to the ages they were in 1999 when first meeting their Digimon partners. At the moment, both were being pursued by a small, round-shaped Digimon in a mask, who carried a small sword known as a ninja-ken, and was constantly tossing shuriken (throwing stars) at the two. Fortunately for them, he consistently missed.

"Come back here!" the Digimon commanded, as he leapt from tree to tree. "My superior would probably really like to meet you!"

"What kind of a Digimon _is_ that anyway? I've never seen one like it before."

"Do we _really_ have to stick around to find out?" Jou huffed.

"Not necessarily..."  
x x x x  
(Digi-Analyzer On)

Hawkmon: This is Igamon, a vaccine type who doesn't take too kindly to strangers. He is a skilled martial artist, who is an expert in the art of ninjutsu, specializing in Iga-style methods of shurikenjutsu and kenjutsu. It's usually very difficult to catch Igamon in action, as he uses the shadows for cover...which makes fighting him quite the challenge, which I learned pretty well...

(Digi-Analyzer Off)  
x x x x  
"Hurry, we've almost escaped him."

Yamato quickly glanced back, and realized Jou was right. They were way ahead of Igamon; as a matter of fact, they couldn't even see him anymore. Feeling that it was okay, the two stopped running to catch their breaths before starting off again.

Jou wiped some beads of sweat from his brow. "That was a close one."

"You were saying?" they heard a voice chuckle darkly.

"Please don't tell me that's who I _think_ it is," Jou muttered, more depressed than what he currently was.

"Oh no, it's that ninja guy again."

Jou took off in a sprint. "I _told_ you not to tell me!"

Yamato took off right behind him. "It's getting dark out here; if we don't do something fast, we'll just end up lost! I'm sure he knows this area well."

"Keep on running!" Igamon was now chasing them on foot, a smirk on his round face. "Please, just go on and run into my traps."

"Did...he...just...say..."

"...his...traps?" Jou gasped while trying to get some more air.

Before the two could do or say anything more, Igamon leapt into a nearby tree, and threw out two shuriken.

"Did you see that, Jou! He missed us!"

"Something's not right. He missed us by way too m-"

Before Jou could finish, a cage fell right on top of them.

"-uch."

"Surprise!" Igamon laughed.

"Damn, we're trapped."

"I knew it," Jou groaned. "I _knew_ something was off. It was probably set up from the beginning. He used those shuriken of his to cut the ropes holding this cage in place, more than likely, which is why with those final two, he seemed to be entirely off. He intentionally led us here and was constantly missing us on purpose so that we'd fall into his trap.

"I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't the only trap here."

"Very good, though not completely correct," Igamon clapped, as he jumped down in front of the cage. "These woods are mine, and it's a good way to keep out trespassers. I figured I'd had fun with you long enough; I didn't want you to get seriously injured since my more dangerous traps are up ahead. It would ruin my fun of killing you. I kept missing for the reason you mentioned, but it was also the only way to keep you from some of the other traps I have set up around that could kill you.

"For Digimon, they'll just get injured, but your human flesh more than likely wouldn't be able to withstand it."

"Excuse me, but _why_ do you want to hurt us?" Yamato asked curiously.

"Oh no you don't!" Igamon warned, pointing an accusatory finger at the boy. "I am not going to fall for any of your tricks! I am a skilled ninja, and we shinobi do not fall for stuff like that!"

"Fall for what?! We didn't do anything!"

Igamon ignored the blonde and whistled. A couple of the big trees nearby began to move. Yamato stared at them malevolently and growled, "Jureimon..."

He recalled the incident where he'd encountered a Jureimon (Cherrymon) before. It was when he and his friends were fighting against the Dark Masters. That particular Jureimon, who worked for the Dark Master, Pinocchimon (Puppetmon), had manipulated him into thinking that Taichi was his true enemy. Due to this, Taichi, as well as his Digimon partner, could have been seriously hurt because of his being so weak-minded to fall for such trickery.

"Nice to see that you know your Digimon. Now, I want you two to take them back to my castle; I have plans for these two."

"This is just great," Jou groaned. "We've been conscious here for probably less than five minutes, and we're al _ready_ in some kind of trouble."

"You two, hold on a moment. I want to make a quick call first." The Jureimon nodded, and stood their ground.

"Wait, don't Jou and I get to make a call?"

He pulled out a mobile phone. "Now why would I go and let you do something like that for?"

He dialed the phone and walked off a slight ways. Both Jou and Yamato tried their bests to listen in on the conversation, but Igamon was being much too private.  
x x x  
(Phone Convo Start)

Igamon: Hello sir, I caught two of those kids you mentioned that would be appearing in our world. I was out doing a few training exercises, when I noticed some figures walking around nearby. I then went after them stealthily and caught them just like that. I'm about to return home now.

Boss: Very good. So far, three have been found and caught to my knowledge. The two you found, and the one that Ebemon is holding captive. I know that Angellina is doing all she can to stop me, and those children are the key. I've made them more vulnerable for you, and I want you to dispose of them as soon as possible! Also, remember, if you are to come across the former Digimon Kaiser, do not harm him in any way. I want him alive.

Igamon: Yes sir!

Boss: Do not disappoint me, Igamon, or I'll see to your death personally.

Igamon: (Gulped) Y-yes s-sir. I would _never_ disobey you, sir! I also know for a fact that neither of these boys is the old Digimon Kaiser. I heard them call each other by name.

Boss: I see. That means you can stick to the original task. Carry out your orders, and I'll see to it that you are properly rewarded. Didn't you want to form your own clan?

Igamon: Yes, sir.

Boss: It shall be done. Once we're done with this world, I plan on entering the human world, although, I cannot in my current state just yet due to some unfortunate technicalities caused by those children, Gennai, and the guardians, but the time grows near. Even if I don't finish with this world, I'll definitely be going to the human world. You can start up a clan there. Their world has so much more to offer, as opposed to our world.

Igamon: Sir, if you don't mind my asking, what's so important about these human children that we have to actually kill them? The two I have here seem pretty harmless to me. They aren't even worthy enough for me to spar with.

Boss: They possess an unusual power, and if that power is released, it'll ruin my plans to conquer their world as well as taking over this one. Now, go do as you were instructed.

Igamon: Yes, sir. Is there any particular way you want them dealt with?

Boss: You can do whatever you want with them. Cut out their hearts, and toss their useless carcasses into the fiery pits in the new Fiery Hot Springs, where all those Fire Reptile Digimon hang around for all I care.

Igamon: Yes sir! I shall not disappoint you, sir!

(Phone Convo End)  
x x x  
Igamon closed up the phone, and made his way back to his two victims. He gave the two a bit of a sneer. "Well, it seems that I get to rip out your hearts and burn your bodies, since neither of you are the old Digimon Kaiser." The two boys' faces went a bit chalky after hearing such a gruesome thing. Igamon couldn't help but laugh at their expressions. "I _tried_ to persuade my boss for me to let you go, but he wants me to kill you," he joked mockingly. "I wouldn't worry if I were you, though, since I have plans for you two."

Igamon turned to the Jureimon, and ordered them to carry the cage back to his place. They started off, Igamon leading the way, but fortunately for Jou and Yamato, nearby, a Digimon friend had witnessed nearly the entire event. He was out on patrol and disabling most of Igamon's traps. Luckily, Igamon never seemed to notice. His main flaw was that he never rechecked the traps after setting them. The cage that had trapped Jou and Yamato was just luck on Igamon's part.

'What does Igamon want with them and why is he interested in Ken? I swear I heard him say something about the Digimon Kaiser. I hope that those rumors aren't entirely true. Igamon is probably one of the more skilled Digimon around here. He took over this area pretty quickly. I couldn't catch all that he said while on the phone, but the looks on Jou and Yamato's faces says it all. He's planning something bad.

'I can't fight Igamon alone. Who knows what type of security he has at that newly conquered castle of his. I got to find help. I just hope some of my Digimon allies are around.'

With that, the Digimon rushed off in hopes of finding someone to help him free the captured humans...  
x x x x  
"Oh dear," the being uttered, while monitoring the children through her crystal orb. "This isn't going as smoothly as I'd planned."

"I knew something was going to happen! Two of them have already gotten themselves into trouble!"

"I know, but that Digimon who saw everything is on his way to get help. He _will_ succeed. Death is not in the future of these children."

"You don't think that the _enemy_ knows of the other children's where-a-bouts, do you? It's obvious he knows of the ones named Jou-san and Yamato-san."

"Let's hope not. Those two will have to beat Igamon and his lackeys in some way, and restore peace to that area. Let's just hope that they'll be able to."

" _Hope_!? You're basing their very _lives_ on hope!"

"It's just an expression; besides, I _know_ they'll be safe. I haven't had any visions of any of them dying. Igamon infiltrated that area and either killed or ran most of the Digimon who once resided there, out. The area is pretty close to one of the Digimon who protects it, but there is no way he can do so all alone. He still goes there, though, to diffuse all of Igamon's traps, which is no easy task. One must be extremely careful when doing so."

"Hmm, I see another child here. Looks like a girl and she seems to be lost. Who exactly is she?"

"This is the one that we'll be meeting up with, I assume."

"What's her name?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but we will learn of this later on. That child, right now, is the safest amongst all of them, since she technically has no direct connection to all that's going on. Our enemy probably doesn't even know of her existence.

"Now, let us keep watch over the others. They're in for quite an adventure..."  
x x x x  
Miyako had been wandering around aimlessly for a good while, late evening approaching. She was quite lost as to everything that had gone on, and had no idea where she was or why her mobile phone couldn't get any type of a signal. The sky was a murky yellow, and she was walking through woods on a faint, dirt path leading through it, but she had still managed to get herself lost, as it was growing darker. The only thing she had determined, in spite of herself, was that she was wearing the same clothes she had worn when she witnessed the battle over the net with Diablomon.

"Izumi-senpai," Miyako called out in frustration, "where are you!"

Miyako gave off a discouraged sigh. She'd been searching for Koushirou for what seemed like hours, even though it'd only been about 45 minutes. So far, she hadn't come in contact with anyone or anything.

'Oh, I can't find him anywhere! Where could he be?' The girl noticed something up ahead and squinted to get a better look. From where she was, she noticed a building with smokestacks. 'Is that...a factory? Maybe someone there could help me…but it looks like a really long walk. Oh well, I have to get there, no matter how tired and hungry I am right now for the sake of Izumi-senpai!'

The girl took off, walking briskly. She then began to quicken her pace, but by doing so, she didn't watch where she was going. She ended up tripping over something, which caused her glasses to fly off. She felt around for them and slipped them back on, curious as to what had caused her to fall. She gasped when she saw that the object was actually a small boy with short hair.

Miyako rushed over and shook the dark-haired boy gingerly. "Are you okay?"

She shook the boy wearing the white dress shirt and blue slacks some more. She wasn't sure how the boy had gotten there at all. Had he been knocked unconscious, or was he just a really deep sleeper?

"Excuse me, hello?"

The boy started to stir as he looked towards the owner of the voice. He saw a young lavender-haired girl kneeled by him.

"Hi," he automatically responded, his vision still a bit blurry. He looked at the girl, a perplexed expression on his handsome, narrow face. "Who are you?"

"Shouldn't _I_ be asking _you_ that question?"

"But I asked first."

Miyako didn't answer him, as she began to study his face. "You look familiar to me."

'Everything's still a little blurry.' He blinked and rubbed his eyes.

"Are you sure you're okay? You were completely out when I found you."

His vision completely clear, he stared at the girl, and smiled gratefully. "Miyako-san!"

"How do you know me?" she questioned him cautiously.

The boy stood up. "What do you mean? Don't you recognize me?" Miyako shook her head with bit of uncertainty. It was like she recognized him, but at the same time, didn't. "Wait a minute...what happened to my body? I'm smaller, and I wasn't wearing this earlier. These are the kinds of clothes I wore as a kid. My mother always made me wear them."

"Wait a minute, who exactly are you and _how_ do you know me?"

"Do I really look that different? It's me, Ken; Ichijouji Ken."

"Ken-kun?" He nodded. "W-wow. I'm sorry, I really didn't recognize you. Your hair and everything is different. I guess I'm just used of the tall, long-haired Ken instead of a small, short-haired Ken."

"That's okay. It took me a while to recognize you too, until I noticed your glasses and your exotic hair. What I mainly want to know is why I'm younger."

"So you were forced here too?"

Ken nodded, as the two of them began to explain their stories on how they arrived in the Digital World, and how her phone couldn't pick up a signal.

"So you say you were with Daisuke?"

"He was in the gym shooting hoops after school since no club was using it, I guess."

"Basketball? Seems he would go and kick a soccer ball around before even touching a basketball. Why was he there anyway?"

"His Hikari-san problem."

"Did you find out what was bothering him?"

"Yeah; he's upset because Hikari-san is unintentionally ignoring and rejecting him. I guess he prefers direct rejection."

"I guess so..."

"So, you were with Koushirou-san?"

"Yeah, but I can't seem to find him anyplace."

"We could always look for them together, Koushirou-san and Daisuke."

"I saw a building a long ways from here," she pointed ahead. "I'm sure if we get there, someone could help us find our friends."

"I don't think we can make it before nightfall, Miyako-san."

"I don't think we will either, but we can at least try to get as far as we can before the sun sets and I guess if we don't make it before then, we'll have to camp out."

"At least we have these trees around; some may have edible fruits on them and I'm sure we can find some water around here."

The two commenced their walk. "Yeah, I guess so, but I still don't care for camping in a place so unfamiliar without our friends."

"I know this may sound a bit strange, but even though my body is younger, I still feel like my present-day self."

"It's not all that strange because I feel the same exact way."

"Do you have any idea exactly _where_ we are?"

"I'm not too sure. I was thinking about that for a good while before bumping into you. I think we were brought back to the Digital World."

"Could we _really_ be back?"

"I think so, but I haven't seen Hawkmon or any other Digimon since I've been here, which is why I hate the idea of camping out around here."

"Maybe they're in that building we're heading towards and maybe Wormmon is there too!"

Miyako clapped her hands. "Bingo! Maybe we'll find Hawkmon too!"

"Yeah, let's go find our Digimon partners and our friends!" Ken obliviously grabbed Miyako's hand, and began to pull her along. Miyako couldn't help but slightly blush as Ken did this, but neither objected to the handhold and neither let go...


	15. The Dark Digimon, his Partner, and the S

Hello again everyone. I just thought I'd warn you that this chapter will definitely be long because it involves a flashback along with our antagonist of this story. I hope you enjoy it and I hope I wrote this out okay. Also, by the title, it should be obvious which character will be featured here. Also, this chapter was originally part of the previous one, but I felt that it was lengthy enough and decided to make it its own separate chapter.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with Digimon.

Chapter 15: "泉さま、どこですか？悪いのデジモン達から助けて下さい!"  
"Izumi-sama, doko desuka? Warui no DEJIMONtachi kara tasukete kudasai!"  
"Izumi-sama, where are you? Please save me from the bad Digimon!" The Dark Digimon, his Partner, and the Sorcerer!

A dark-spirited Digimon, wearing a hooded robe (which always kept his face hidden, though, he couldn't hide the horns protruding from the sides of his head) sat on the throne of his newly conquered castle, staring down at his unwilling guest. The one to stand before him was a pretty, black-haired girl, who looked quite frightened of the robed creature, who seemed to have purplish, blue eyes. He pretty much ran things (it seemed obvious that he did, anyway, to the girl), and two of his minions had discovered her in the area, and brought her to him.

"You must not be important to Angellina or the guardians if you were brought here," he stated, his deep voice rumbling.

"I don't know what you're talking about! I don't even know where I am! I just want to go home!" the girl cried. `Things like this _never_ happen whenever I visit my grandparents in Hong Kong! I wish I was there now!'

"Silence! You were brought before me obviously for some kind of a reason." He chuckled a bit. "I just may use that to my full advantage."

"P-please, do not hurt me. Please spare me, Mister, um...um...what _are_ you anyway?"

"Hmm, so the Candmon who discovered you speak the truth." The Digimon rubbed what appeared to be his chin. The shadows hid his face so discreetly; it was most difficult to make out. Only his eyes seemed to stand out. "This human really _doesn't_ know of our existence. I'm a Digimon."

"A Digimon?" the girl blinked. `Digimon are real? This isn't just some made up thing by Inoue?' She grew hysterical; she didn't want to accept such a thing. "I know…this is all just a very bad dream. Yeah, that's it! None of this is real! Digimon aren't real! Digimon can't be real! Digimon is just some _stupid_ thing _she_ made up to better her chances with him, and to complete her quest to take him away from me!" She gave off an uneasy laugh, as she continued to try her best to convince herself that she was just having a really bad nightmare. She then pointed to the creature. " _You_ are not real!"

"You _dare_ doubt the existence of me, and those like me?!" He stood; compared to the petite girl, he was huge. He raised his hand, and formed what looked to be a miniature fireball within it. He then launched the attack towards the wall behind the girl, who had gone pale with fright from the display. "Do you _still_ doubt our existence?" he growled at her.

"N-n-no, s-s-sir," she managed to get out. "I believe in Digimon, but what do you want with me?" She was literally crying now. "I haven't done anything."

"My Candmon found you-"

The young girl's mind wandered after hearing the name "Candmon", recalling how she was caught and brought before this strange Digimon in the first place...

* * *

 _A young girl awoke, rubbing her eyes. "Where...am I..." She stood and studied her surroundings. There were a lot of trees and bushes neighboring her, and it seemed to be growing late. The last place she wanted to be was the woods, so she started to walk. As she walked, she came to a cemented path, and at the end of the path, was a huge, dark castle. `I know, I'll go there for help.'_

 _As she grew closer and closer to her destination, she noticed that it grew even darker, which seemed unnatural. "Um, hello? Is anybody here?" she called out as she continued on. "Can somebody help me find my way back home?"_

 _When she didn't receive an answer, she continued her casual-paced walk, until she thought she heard some rustling in the bushes nearby. Anxious, she turned to see what it was, but saw nothing. "It's probably just a bird, or something," she told herself in relief. She heard the noise again, accompanied by a small giggle. "I-it was probably j-just the wind." Her walk grew more brisk, as she was growing more and more paranoid._

 _About another moment later, she noticed a faint glow coming from one of the bushes she was currently passing. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she went over to inspect it. "Hm?" There were candle-filled holders just sitting there. "Who would leave lit candles by a bush?" the girl asked, bewildered. "Leaving those there could catch this entire place on fire." She picked one up. "Well, at least it'll help me to see better since it's getting darker."_

 _She didn't hold the candle for long, as she screamed. The candle had arms, eyes, nose, and a mouth; the most distressing part, though, was the fact that the thing had spoken to her._

" _Put me down!"_

 _She dropped it. "You-you t-t-talked," she pointed shakily as she backed away._

" _You must be one of those kids our master warned us will be coming here, and wants dead."_

" _No, I don't know what you're talking about."_

 _The candle called out for some other friends of his. More and more of the candle like creatures appeared, and formed a circle around her. The distraught girl didn't know what to do. She really couldn't run past them, as she feared being burned._

 _After all of the candle monsters had appeared, they grew about three times their original size. They were just as big as she was. The candle-like creatures weren't really small at all; they only used it as a cover._

" _Wh-what the heck_ _**are**_ _you creatures?!"_

 _One of the candles answered, "Bokutachi Dejimon (We're Digimon)!"_

" _Digimon?" She shook her head. "No! There are no such things as Digimon! They're only a figment of Inoue's warped imagination!"_

 _The Digimon looked at her, quite offended. Before the girl knew it, they were launching fireballs at her feet from the burning wicks atop their waxy heads. She tried her best to evade them, which wasn't quite easy, since she wasn't as athletic like she was back in her early schooldays. She looked to be dancing.  
_ _x x x x  
_ (Digi-Analyzer On)

 _Head Candle: We are known as Candmon. We don't like nosy strangers, especially those who are a threat to our leader. Anyone who interferes with his plans, faces the consequences when we use our Bonfire attack!_

(Digi-Analyzer Off)  
 _x x x x  
The Candmon stopped launching attacks, while the girl rubbed her temples, completely stressed out. She just couldn't believe what was going on. "What do you want with me?"_

" _Since you're a human, to kill you," one of the other Candmon said. The other ones nodded, wicked smirks etched across their waxy faces._

" _Okay Candmon," the leader commanded, "attack now! Bonfire!"_

" _No, wait," the second Candmon who had answered the girl earlier interrupted._

" _Cease fire, mon. What is it?"_

" _Why not take her to the castle? There has to be a reason for her being in this area. Besides, don't you find it a little strange that she doesn't know what Digimon are? She seems clueless of them, especially with that_ _**stupid**_ _remark she made about us being someone's imaginary friends, or whatever it was."_

" _You bring up a very good point. I'll take her there personally." The head Candmon, the one she'd originally mistook for a candle and had picked up, ordered a few to stay with him, and to help him get her up to the castle, so that their "master can take care of her". She didn't like the sound of that, and didn't know whether to be happy or upset._

 _The Candmon stayed behind her, ordering her to move faster. She knew not to disobey them, since they had a big flame going and threatened to burn her if she tried anything. Tears streamed down her face. `What did I do to deserve this?' she quietly sobbed._

 _After reaching the Transylvania-like castle, and being let in by some Digimon she didn't get a good look at, the other Candmon dispersed, except for the head one. He led her to a large closed door, which, she assumed, to be the throne room. The Candmon ordered her to stay by the door, and to not "try anything stupid, like running away", before pushing the heavy door open, and hopping inside. She knew that it would be pointless to try running, since another one of those "Digimon creatures" was guarding her. The Digimon was huge, muscular, and had three heads. The Candmon had referred to this big, blue Digimon as "Deltamon"._

 _The girl just stood there petrified, tuning out any threat the Deltamon probably gave her. Her heart was pounding so hard, that she felt it would beat right out of her chest, or either die of a heart attack, one from all of trauma she was experiencing. A short moment later, the Candmon returned, and escorted her to his leader who was sitting in the darkly-lit room…  
_

* * *

"My Candmon brought you before me, but you are no threat to me, which means, I don't have to kill you off."

"K-kill me?"

"I'll just find something more interesting to do with you. I could even use you against them."

"A-against them?"

"Yes, of course. I will use you to help capture them."

"B-but what if I don't _want_ to get `them'?"

Expecting the Digimon to yell or do something worse to her for asking such a defying question, he, surprisingly, replied calmly, "Nice of you to ask that. I shall give you a direct example."

He rose slowly from his seat, his eyes glowing in excitement. He called for another Digimon, but the girl couldn't catch the name quite well. A Digimon entered the room, which looked to be extremely strong. He resembled a Samurai to the girl. At his side, was what looked to be a young, handsome brown-haired man, in an off-white hooded robe, with a glossed over look.

"This is my second in command," the dark Digimon explained, "and he's aiding me in my pursuit."

"That man...what's wrong with him?" He hadn't reacted at all since he was brought in.

"He defied and went against me, so now he's paying the ultimate price," the second-in-command explained. "He has no control over his mind."

"Does _that_ answer your question?"

The girl couldn't utter a single word, and just nodded shakily. The man looked so deathly, that his eyes were pale, yet, she could sense that the man wanted to be freed of his current mind entrapment.

"I now see that I have your undivided attention and cooperation," he noted, as he returned to his seat.

"H-h-how did you do that?" she squeaked out, as she suddenly couldn't find her voice.

"It is a very simple procedure, but that's not of any importance to you, _hu_ man," the armored Digimon snapped at her.

"Now, as I was saying earlier, you will help me get them."

Scared to rebel against him, she meekly spoke up. "Exactly _whom_ are you referring to?"

"Those you entered our world with."

"Inoue Miyako?"

"Yes, that's one of them." After hearing the name, her face scrunched up in a bit of extreme jealousy. "So the one with the Digimon partner, Hawkmon, angers you? We shall _definitely_ use that to our advantage."

"It seems so, sir," his colleague laughed.

"That Inoue," the girl growled, both her fists bawled at her side, "I'll get her! It's all her fault that I'm here, and it's her fault that I'm separated from Izumi-sama!"

"Good, then you will have no problem killing her for our cause."

"K-kill her? I can't do that! Sure she may have the one thing I've been after for the past two years, but I don't want to rid myself of the competition through actually _kill_ ing her."

"You seem to be under the deluded illusion that I care. We are not _asking_ you to kill her, we are _telling_ you to! There is no room for negotiation!" he yelled, his voice echoing throughout the room.

Growing a bit more of a backbone, she defied him once more. "I am sorry," she puffed out her chest, and stood up tall, "but I am not going to do something like that. I don't believe in killing."

"Sir, it seems she won't listen to us. Looks like we'll have to use the same method we used on Gennai here." He pushed him to the floor roughly, which caused him to groan in slight pain.

`Gennai? This man is named Gennai?'

"I suppose so. I was hoping that we wouldn't have to, but I abhor disobedience and I could always use her if those useless guardians decide to ever interfere." He glared down at Gennai. "Get up you pathetic excuse of a creature! Go and fetch me my sorcerer!"

Gennai stood up slowly, and nodded obediently. He walked off, leaving the girl even more scared than what she was earlier. She couldn't believe that she'd managed to anger them so much. She felt rather stupid for her actions, even if she did truly believe in them.

`I just _had_ to get them mad at me, now they're probably gong to end up killing me! I wish I would have _never_ gone back into that computer lab. I should have gone to get help instead of letting my jealousy affect my judgment.

`At least one good thing, those two are currently safe, since this Digimon thing wants to use me to find them.'

A short moment later, "puppet" Gennai returned with a short Digimon by his side. He had an oversized hat, a pair of coveralls, which came up to his nose, and a magic staff.

"Ahh, welcome, Sorcerymon," the Dark Digimon uncharacteristically greeted warmly.

"Sorcerymon?" the girl muttered.  
x x x x  
(Digi-Analyzer On)

RP: This adult (champion) leveled Digimon is Sorcerymon, who is a lot more powerful than he looks. Whenever he prays, he is filled with a holy power that can allow him to heal himself if injured badly. He also has other special powers that not even his superior and fellow Digimon know of, which is why it's not too surprising how he never ceases to amaze.

(Digi-Analyzer Off)  
x x x x  
He pointed a long, clawed finger at the girl. "I want you to use the method you used on Gennai, on this human. I want her to help us locate and kill those children, not counting the former Digimon Kaiser."

"Yes sir. I would be happy to."

He turned towards the slightly taller girl and waved his left hand in front of her eyes. She tried her best not to look, but she just couldn't resist. The next thing she knew, she started to feel herself grow drowsy, which finally got the better of her. She ended up falling asleep while on her feet.

Next, the sorcerer looked to be praying, and a great aura seemed to surround him. He then transmitted this to the 15-year-old girl. After he was done, the girl opened her eyes slowly and wore the same, vacant expression as Gennai. She stood there, as if awaiting instructions on what to do or how to act.

"She's all yours. The process is done."

"Good," the colleague nodded. "Now, girl, we will test you. You must prove that you are loyal."

She nodded.

"Do you understand that you will obey my every command, as well as Sorcerymon and my second-in-command?" She nodded monotonously. "Good. Now, go out and kill every human child you come in contact with that's roaming the Digital World. Sorcerymon will accompany you." Once again, she nodded.

"Let's check to make sure she's being truthful, sir. So far all she is doing is nodding and agreeing. She could be putting on an act."

"He's right," Sorcerymon concurred. "Let's start off with something simple to ask of her. You saw how easy it was with that Gennai guy. Girl, what is your name, and what have you been ordered to do?"

An eerie look crept to her once, sweet face, and stared from Sorcerymon to the two ultimate (mega) leveled Digimon before her. "I am Meihui Chiu," she replied emotionlessly. "I am 15 years old, and am in my third and final year at Odaiba Junior High. My task is to kill Inoue, as well as any other child roaming the Digital World who is a threat to my master. I am also to take orders from you three only." She bowed down. "I assure you that I won't fail, my lord."

"She could still be lying…"

"Well then, _you_ test her," Sorcerymon quipped.

"Okay." The second-in-command pulled out a small knife, which he kept concealed. He handed the heavy knife to the girl, who looked it over curiously.

"Hey hey, what are you going to do?"

"Don't worry about it, Sorcerymon. You have healing powers, right?"

"Y-yeah, but-"

"I have faith in you." He turned to Meihui, who was still standing there, awaiting instructions while examining the blade. "Okay, girl, I want you to take that knife, and stab yourself in the stomach."

The Dark Digimon stared on. His eyes, once again, were glowing in excitement, curious as to how this would play out. Sorcerymon's eyes went partially wide in shock, but soon recovered.

"Yes, sir." Meihui took the knife in her right hand, positioning it. She drew it back, and thrust it towards her stomach.

"Well, she's obviously not lying," the samurai-like Digimon said, his arms crossed, his tone satisfied.

"She seems even more obedient than Gennai was," Sorcerymon stated, his hand up. He'd conjured up a shield to prevent the knife from actually penetrating her flesh. After the knife was retrieved from the puzzled-looking girl, Sorcerymon turned to his master. "Anyway, about her attire, sir..."

"What about it?"

"Should she really be wearing a school uniform? It could get in the way of training."

"Training?"

"Yes sir. See, since she's actually going to be out of the castle for fighting purposes, unlike Gennai, I'm sure she could be hypnotized into being some type of a fighter. She's pretty much weak and worthless physically, which I determined while putting her under, despite there being some potential. Maybe she trained in her past, but currently, her strong suit is definitely her intelligence."

"It's up to you. If you need some fighting attire or weapons for the girl, contact Igamon (Ninjamon) in his newly, conquered section. He has a large amount of weaponry, and is pretty much an expert."

"Yes sir."

"Now, you, girl, go train and then rest for your upcoming battle. You shall also eat so as to have your strength. Do you understand?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Good. This is looking to be quite promising. Now, go prepare. You and Sorcerymon shall go out as soon as possible."

With that, both the girl and Sorcerymon left the room to get ready for the following day...

Fic Chapter Change

This chapter had a few changes, but the most significant one, was Meihui's test. Originally, they just asked her name and for her to explain her task and left it at that.


	16. Guilt Trip

This chapter features Taichi, Sora, Koushirou, and Mimi. Sorry it took me a while to update this, and please leave a review to let me know how I'm doing by leaving a review. I would really appreciate it.

Now as always, I do not own anything dealing with Digimon; Bandai and Toei have that pleasure.

Chapter 15: "太一を探している..."  
"Taichi o sagashite iru…"  
"In search of Taichi..." Sora's Guilt Trip!

It was growing late, as a young Sora walked around in search of her childhood friend, since he was the last person she was with. Getting to the world was pretty bizarre, especially now that she's actually in it. Just like the others, she had aged backwards. She was a lot smaller, and wearing the same blue helmet she'd worn when younger. She was still in her tennis uniform, and clipped to her skirt, was her Digivice. She always carried it around as a bit of a reminder of her Digimon and of her adventures in the Digital World. Her gym bag was nowhere to be found, which had her phone and such, but she figured she dropped it before being pulled into the vortex.

"Do you think we'll ever find him?" the now 11-year-old Sora asked her current traveling companion.

The pink bird walking alongside her, gave Sora a reassuring smile. "I'm sure we will," Piyomon responded enthusiastically.

"I sure hope so."

"It's so great to see you again, Sora, but how come you look so young? I thought humans were supposed to get older, not younger."

"I have no idea. I may look younger, but I still feel as if I'm the age I was before I was brought back here."

"I'm just glad I caught you before you fell!"

Sora smiled gently. "I'm glad too. I surely would've died if you wouldn't have been nearby…"  
x x x x  
 _Sora had just been released of the strange, abducting vortex, and was falling fast..._

 _"HELP!"_

 _A short distance away, Piyomon was talking to a couple of Pyocomon (Yokomon), explaining the importance of evolution, and how she missed her human friend, Sora, and her friends; something that was pretty much constant with the small pink bird._

 _"I wish I had a human partner," the first Pyocomon whined._

 _"Me too," the second Pyocomon bounced, trying to keep up with the bird-Digimon, "that way, we can evolve faster, and wouldn't have to evolve naturally!"_

 _"It's a wonderful feeling because of the bond you have with your partner. It's a bond that can never be broken," Piyomon told the two as they continued their walk through the woods. They were on their way to the ravine on the other side of the woods to pick some berries. "Maybe one day, another child, or two, will come to the Digital World, and become your human partners."_

 _They both hopped up and down at the thought. "I think our wish is going to come true, Piyo-neechan," the second Pyocomon exclaimed._

 _"Why do you say that?"_

 _"Look up there! A human is falling towards the ravine."_

 _"What makes you so sure it's a human?" the first Pyocomon asked._

 _"Because I've never seen a Digimon that looked like that!"_

 _"Good point."_

 _"Oh no! We have to help that person!"_

 _"What can we do?" the first Pyocomon questioned._

 _"I thought that humans couldn't fly, Piyo-neechan!"_

 _"They can't! There's only one thing I can do." The bird removed the tote bag hanging around her neck, and dropped it to the ground. "Piyomon shinka..." A bright light surrounded the pink bird's body as she grew to a huge, bigger form of herself, only her color was more so orange, and she looked a bit scary in comparison to her cute, pink self. "...Birdramon!"_

 _"Wow! Piyo-neechan evolved!"_

 _"Piyo-nee is so cool!"_

 _"You two stay here," Birdramon instructed._

 _The two Pyocomon obeyed for a short while, but ended up hopping along as fast as they could to the shallow water-filled ravine, to see Birdramon in action._

 _Birdramon flapped her wings harder in order to fly faster. She really wasn't concerned as to who it was or even why the person was there. Finally reaching the ravine, she dived downwards, and swooped down, catching the young human by the back of her skirt with her beak right before she hit the water. Birdramon had just barely made it. The human was saved, yet, still ended up fainting from the traumatizing ordeal._

 _The two Pyocomon cheered as they saw Birdramon fly back towards them and landing on the ravine's edge to lower the human safely to the ground. After doing so, she devolved back to Piyomon, and tried to rest up a bit. It had been a good while since she'd had to overexert herself by evolving (on an empty stomach) and flying harder than usual.._

 _While Piyomon rested underneath a nearby shady tree, the two young Digimon inspected human since neither had ever seen one before._

 _"What's that weird thing on the human's head?" the first one asked while taking a closer look._

 _"Is this human a boy or a girl?"_

 _"It has to be a girl! It has a skirt on!"_

 _"Oh yeah, that's right; but that still doesn't explain that blue thing on her head."_

 _"Hey, look at that thing on her skirt," the first Pyocomon cried out in excitement, hopping up and down once again," it's a Digivice! I know what **those** look like! I bet this human is going to be my new partner!"_

 _"No she's not! She's going to be **my** new human partner!"_

 _"Wait, wait. Doesn't this human seem a bit old looking with those clothes to be a human child? She has a body like some perfect (ultimate) or ultimate (mega) leveled Digimon that look a little human, like Lilymon, or Rosemon, or Angewomon, or that scary LadyDevimon. She just doesn't look as old as them."_

 _"Maybe she's a weird looking Lilymon, and just found that Digivice," the second Pyocomon frowned in disappointment. "That blue thing on her head looks like that hat Angewomon wears; it just doesn't cover her eyes."_

 _"But it can't be a Lilymon because Lilymon can fly."_

 _Piyomon was only half-listening to the conversation between the two children, and looked over towards them and the human. She finally got a good look at the "blue thing" the two kept going on about._

 _"That blue hat resembles Sora's." Piyomon rose from her spot and joined the two. She then gasped as she recognized the facial features, as well as the Digivice clipped to her skirt. "This **is** Sora!"_

 _"Sora?"_

 _"You two, stay here while I get her some fresh water."_

 _Piyomon went through the tote bag she'd been carrying, and pulled out a water flask she was planning on filling anyway. She then flew down to the ravine, and filled it with the pure crystal water, and made her way back up to Sora._

 _When she returned, Sora had begun to stir. She opened her eyes slowly, to find the pink bird, with two small onion-looking things, hovering over her. "P-piyomon?"_

 _"Hi, Sora."_

 _Sora sat up quickly, though held her head from doing so. She was a bit lightheaded. She then hugged her Digimon partner tightly. After the hugs, Piyomon explained to the girl how she randomly fell from the sky, and how she had to evolve to save her. Sora then explained about how she was playing tennis with Taichi, and their abduction._

 _After the greetings, and Piyomon sending the two Pyocomon back to their village, the two went off in search of Taichi...  
_ x x x x  
"I'm forever grateful to you, Piyomon."

"That's what friends are for."

"So, do you have any idea _why_ I've been brought back to the Digital World, or why I seem four or five years younger? I have my old blue hat I wore when I first met you, but I'm still wearing my tennis uniform I was practicing in before that weird vortex sucked Taichi and me in."

"I'm not too sure, but there _has_ been some stuff going on around here."

"Like what?"

"Sudden Digimon attacks, evil Digimon in general, the usual," the bird responded nonchalantly, due to the fact that it had become quite routine.

" _That's_ usual? How long has this been going on?"

"Hmm, I'd say for the past few weeks; maybe longer. There are rumors going on about some Digimon wanting to take over the Digital World for whatever the reason. He's sending out troops to conquer different areas for him.

"It's almost like we're dealing with the Digimon Kaiser again, but I, as well as the others, know that it's not him. No human has set foot in the Digital World since you and the others left two years ago. The Digimon are also not being controlled who attack. They're attacking on their own.

"Because of these attacks, all of the other Digimon and I have decided to protect an area, since we are the only few who have the power to evolve at will due to our having had human partners. We can't evolve to our perfect (ultimate) forms anymore, since you guys gave up your crest powers years ago to create that barrier, and evolving to that stage on our own is a bit difficult without the extra energy boost, but we can still help to keep any attacking Digimon away until the Digimon in the area are safe and out of danger."

"You all have been through a whole lot. Do you think Taichi and I were brought back to help you get rid of the Digimon who have been attacking your areas?"

Piyomon hugged Sora. "That would be great! It'll be just like old times!"

"Yeah, old times..." the girl murmured while trailing off.

Piyomon noticed the distant look on Sora's face, curious as to what was wrong. Sora was still a bit upset over Taichi's being separated from her, but not as she was over his being hurt. It obviously bothered him that she'd kept such a secret from him.

"Sora, what's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I was just wondering where Taichi could've ended up."

"We've been all around this area, Sora, and no one from the village I stay in has noticed anything either. Remember how I asked before we left?" Sora nodded somberly. "I don't think he's anywhere around here. We should probably get back to the village and look for him when there's more light out to see by. And you should eat and rest, too."

"But Piyomon, we have to find Taichi!"

"You know, since you ended up with me, maybe Taichi found Agumon."

"Hey, you're probably right! Let's go find Agumon!"

"It'll take a long time if we go by foot. It'd probably take almost an entire day to get there and it's getting a bit late now."

"Oh..." she uttered dejectedly.

"But, I could evolve to Birdramon, and fly you there easily. If I fly fast enough, we could probably get there a little less than an hour."

"Could we go now?"

Piyomon looked hesitant, and shook her head slightly. "I rather we didn't, Sora. Who knows what we'll run into, and I'm still not fully recharged from when I evolved earlier. Since I was hungry when I evolved, and was already a bit tired, my strength pretty much left me after I saved you." She lowered her head. "I'm sorry, but I won't be able to protect you, unless I get some more rest."

"Oh no, Piyomon, that's okay. If you need your rest, you need your rest. Taichi can wait, especially if he _is_ with Agumon. We'll just go out sometime in the morning."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Your health is important, Piyo."

"Okay, let's head back to the village. The other Digimon there that you haven't met yet will be very pleased to meet you since I've told them so much about you! And we can make you a place to sleep and maybe do something about those over-sized clothes of yours. Babamon lives in our village, and she's good at cooking and sewing and everything. Jijimon is good at some of that stuff too, and fishes really well."

With that, the two headed back towards Piyomon's village, Sora a bit discouraged over not having found Taichi. 'Taichi, I'm sorry I hurt you, but _please_ be all right...please be with Agumon right now...'  
x x x x  
Back at the secret orb room...

"It seems that all of the children are in good hands," the silky-haired woman told her partner happily.

"That's good. Soon, all of them will be together, and defeat our enemy, and all of his followers. I wonder how he managed to get so many in the first place."

"He probably either threatened those who currently follow him, or either promised them something for their help and cooperation." She studied the orb again, frowning slightly.

"What's wrong?"

"I have this grave feeling dealing with one of the children. I can't seem to locate the child who has nothing to do with Digimon; the extra person. No matter how much I concentrate and focus my mind, it just doesn't help."

"You don't suppose that he or she has been found by our enemy, do you!?"

"I'm afraid so," she nodded dismally.

"Oh dear, just what we need."

"But there _is_ hope," she reminded her partner.

"There you go with the hope again. Always the optimist."

"Hope is a very powerful thing; and is one of the grandest, most purist devout powers ever. Without one having hope, he or she cannot help to create his or her own miracles. You can't have miracles unless you have the light of hope first."

"That _is_ true, but this child's life could possibly be in danger. What can we do to help?"

"There's nothing we _can_ do until the child destined to find us, arrives here."

The Digimon sighed crestfallen. "I really hope you're right."

"I know that I am," the woman replied with confidence. "I have relayed my visions and such to the Holy Beast Guardians and they agree with all that I've predicted so far. They've never been wrong before, and I doubt they'll start doing so now..."  
x x x x  
At the time Sora had first awakened to discover Piyomon, Taichi was still out cold. A small, orange-reptilian Digimon watched over him, hoping that he would soon awaken.

The Digimon paced around anxiously, the seconds turning to minutes. After a good while, Taichi finally started to stir.

"Taichi," the Digimon called to him in his trademark scratchy voice, while giving him the biggest hug known to Digimon kind, "I'm so glad that you finally woke up!"

The boy managed to rub his eyes, and instinctively held his head. "It's hot, and my head hurts," he muttered. Memories began to flood the young boy's mind of what he had just encountered. "Sora! I have to find her!" He tried to get up, but realized he couldn't. He finally noticed the Digimon hugging his middle. "Agumon?"

"Hi, pal!"

"It really _is_ you!" He returned the fire reptile's hug. "Oh my gosh! What are you doing here? What's going on?" Before Agumon could answer, his childhood friend came to mind once again. "No wait, we have to find Sora."

"Sora?"

Taichi broke his embrace with Agumon and stood. He jogged off, figuring that Agumon would be right behind him, but didn't get very far due to his tripping and falling. His long gym shorts now fit him like a pair of pants.

"Taichi," Agumon ran to his side, and helped him up, "are you okay?"

Taichi looked himself over, a bit confused. "I wasn't wearing pants before that weird portal sucked me into the sky. I was wearing my gym clothes while playing tennis with Sora."

Agumon looked him over. He scratched his head. "Taichi, don't you notice something else different about yourself other than your clothes?"

He shrugged slightly, but then finally noticed what Agumon had. He was a whole lot shorter; he had his round blue goggles atop his head - the pair he had given to Daisuke years earlier - along with his blue sweatband he'd wear underneath them. His sneakers, though, were the same that he'd worn when he first met Agumon.

"What happened to my body! I'm a kid again!" The boy obliviously dug through the pockets of his shorts, and pulled out a couple of very familiar objects. "My Digivice? My pocket telescope?" He stared down at the objects in extreme mystification. "Why do I have these things? I gave my goggles to Daisuke, I haven't seen my pocket telescope in years, and I left my Digivice in my gym bag, since I didn't want to accidentally break it while playing Sora. I wonder why I have these, and why I seem to be younger.

"I wonder if the same thing happened to Sora."

"I don't know about Sora, but you're the only one here, Taichi. You were just laid right out here when I showed up. I don't know how long you were there."

Curious as to where he was, Taichi started to study his surroundings. He sweat dropped nervously, and grew a bit uneasy. "Agumon, where exactly _am_ I, and why are there so many fiery pits here?" He gulped slightly. "I'm not... _dead_ , am I, and I'm not where I _think_ I am, am I?"

"No, you're not dead," Agumon laughed. "You're just as alive as I am! I don't know what you're thinking, but we're at a hot spring for reptile Digimon like me."

"A...hot...spring? It's a little _hot_ , don't you think?" he sarcastically muttered.

"Not for me it's not. Instead of it being filled with water, these pits are filled with fire. I use it to keep my strength up just by sitting by it and taking in the heat. It's very therapeutic for Fire Reptile Digimon like me. That's what Gennai told me anyway. I'm not the only Digimon who comes here, but this is near my area to protect. This is my new home. I live a little ways from here, and come here every once in a while to relax."

"Your new home? What's happened in the past two years? Do you have any idea why I'm here, or why I'm a kid again?"

"I'm sorry Taichi; I don't know why you're here or why you're younger."

"Hmm, I guess you wouldn't know. So, how _is_ Gennai doing?" Agumon looked at the ground, his cheery disposition, slightly dropping. "Yo, Agumon, what's the matter? Has something bad happened to Gennai?"

He nodded slowly. "No one seems to know where he is, or what's happened to him. He's been missing for a good while."

"Missing? Okay, Agumon, I want you to tell me about everything that's been going on, and don't leave out one single detail."

"Right. I don't know why you're young again, but there _has_ been some trouble here lately..."

Agumon explained to Taichi of all that had been going on lately and relayed the same information that the other Digimon had, only he mentioned Gennai's disappearance and how he went in search of the head Digimon causing all of the trouble since only he and a couple of others knew about it.

"So it seems that we were brought back to help you get rid of whoever is causing the trouble, but for some strange reason, we ended up younger than what we currently are."

"It makes sense, but I can't fight these Digimon alone. None of the Digimon attacking are being controlled. It's the same for the others too, so we either have to lead them away, and hope for the best, or either...delete them."

"Let's find Sora; maybe she's with Piyomon. That way, we can work together as a team, and beat all of these Digimon!" He bawled up his fist in determination. "No one messes with our pals, and gets away with it! And while we're at it, we can go find Gennai!"

"Yeah!"

'At least this way, I can prove to Sora that we work well together.'

"But Taichi, it'll take a long time to get to Piyomon's area. It would take us all night to get there if we were to leave now on foot, and, unfortunately, I can't fly unless I evolve to my higher forms. The power that I used to have from Qinlongmon, which allowed me to warp evolve to WarGreymon to fight against BlackWarGreymon, was a one-time only thing." He lowered his head in shame. "I'm weak and can't do that anymore."

Taichi patted the reptile on the back consolingly. "That's okay, buddy; you are anything but weak! I refuse to let you think of yourself in that way. I'm sure we'll come up with something to get rid of all those evil Digimon, and a way to find Sora."

"I hope we can all come up with something."

"So, Agumon, since I'm here, and you obviously don't want to go find Piyomon tonight, could I have a bite to eat," he blurted out with a lopsided grin.

"Sure, just follow me back to where I'm staying. We have to leave this clearing, and go back out into the woods. I have a place set up out there." Agumon trotted off with Taichi a short ways behind. "Watch yourself, Taichi, and _please_ try not to fall into any of those pits."

"Come on now, Agumon. I'm older now, sort of," the boy stated arrogantly. "I'm not as clumsy as I was when I was a kid."

Right after he said that, he tripped. Agumon sweat dropped, and shook his head. "You were saying?"

"Um, just gotta tie my shoes here...ehehehe."

"Let's go. We can both get ourselves a bite to eat, and then rest up for the long trip we'll have to take tomorrow, but before I go, I'll have to have someone watch over this area for me. I guess Tyrannomon could watch it for me while I'm gone."

With that - the boy's laces tied - Taichi tugged on his "pants", and strutted off behind Agumon, who led him to another clearing that was nearby. The trunk of the tree had a supply of food and water, which Agumon gladly shared. While dining on the fruits and such that Agumon had, the two began to reminisce, and contemplating on the quickest way to meet up with Piyomon...  
x x x x  
Meanwhile...

"Ne, Koushirou-kun..."

"Yes, Mimi-san?"

"Do you have any theories why we were brought back to the Digital World?" She wanted to discuss something other than Miyako, which he had been obliviously doing since their journey began. The topic of Miyako had grown tiresome, and a bit annoying with the way he seemed to be overly praising her skills and abilities. She had no idea why it bothered her so much, as she had nothing against Miyako and adored her very much. She constantly wondered, though, if it had been any other person, a male, particularly, would it have been as bothersome to her. Their earlier conversations had been about their Digimon, and how much both missed them and the adventures they had with them, as well as their other friends and daily lives, things they would discuss sometimes in e-mail, but, the subject of Miyako would always seem to creep into it. Whenever writing her, he rarely ever did this, but when talking, it was different. The girl was also quite tired and sleepy, given that she would've been asleep if back in New York.

"Not really," he stated bluntly, shaking his head, "but I do have this feeling that we will find all of our answers once we reach our destination."

"How do you know that?"

"I don't, really. It's just a feeling that I have."

"That doesn't really sound like you. You usually go by logic and facts before coming to any type of a conclusion."

"Having all of the facts doesn't really mean anything, and one going by instinct and intuition is a good thing too."

"It's starting to get a bit dark, and it's getting cooler out too. Are you okay with just that short-sleeved shirt?"

"I'm fine, but this is a bit problematic. I don't think we'll be able to reach that building before the sun sets. We may have to find someplace to camp out until we get the opportunity to travel again."

"But where can we camp? We're still out in the open!"

"Maybe we should change direction, then."

"What do you mean? The building is straight ahead from us...just far away."

"My intuition says we should go off-course for a while."

"But that's not logical!"

"But like you said, if we _do_ have to stop because it gets too dark, or stop due to the fact that we don't have the endurance or energy to hike around all night without any food or water, we should do so in an area where we can find those things."

Mimi refused to argue anymore as she was to tired to anyway. "Fine, do whatever you feel is right," she told him hotly.

"W-well, I feel we should just go this way," he answered her cautiously.

"From here, it looks like, well, nothing, but more open space."

"Strange, I just have this feeling we're supposed to go that way."

The two started off in the direction Koushirou had suggested. Mimi couldn't say much of anything as she followed behind the boy, still a bit amazed over Koushirou's change of character. Growing tired of carrying her sweater around, she tied it around her waist, and stuffed her bra into the pocket of the blazer. When doing so, she felt a metallic object within it, and pulled it out. Koushirou noticed, as he'd taken that particular moment to glance back at her.

"I see you found my Digivice."

"So you keep yours with you too," she stated, realizing it was silly of her to say. He'd mentioned as much in his e-mails.

"All the time." He faced forward again, his hands behind his head. "It helps me to remember Tentomon and the others by, and of how much fun we had when with them. Even after all of this time, I've still never gotten used to not having Tentomon by my side."

Mimi caught up to Koushirou, who had stopped to wait for her. She handed him his Digivice and then unclipped hers from her overly big skirt. Staring down at it, she said, "I do too. Michael keeps his with him also. We both figured that if we can't see our Digimon friends anymore, it wouldn't hurt to have something to remember them by."

"Just like us. Miyako-kun always keeps her D-3 and D-Terminal with her in a pocket she made for her uniform. She still uses the D-Terminal to send out e-mails."

The two started their walk again. It was very late evening now, and the moon was starting to creep up into the sky, though it was tough to see since it was pretty cloudy. 'Too much air pollution around here,' thought Koushirou sourly as they continued walking.

"Koushirou-kun, look! It looks like some kind of an oasis. Look at all of that tropical stuff around it, and there's also a spring!" Her eyes shined as she stared up ahead. 'I can finally take a nice cool bath!'

"Yeah, you're right, but how could we not notice that earlier?"

"Who cares! This is the Digital World! Unexpected stuff like that is expected! Gomamon would always say stuff like that!"

Knowing the girl was right, the two started to run. Koushirou was hoping beyond hope that this wasn't some type of late evening, early night mirage. The boy was in the front, but soon tripped, which caused Mimi to fall as well.

"Next time you stop, how about giving a little warning first!"

"I'm sorry, I stumbled over something."

Mimi stood first, and helped the smaller boy up. She then gasped at the objects the redhead had fallen over.

"What's the matter?"

"It's...wow...just...look!" she pointed.

His eyes grew wide when he saw what the girl was referring to. "It's my laptop and its carrying case!"

"And my old pink hat! I lost this after our first adventure here!"

Koushirou picked up his laptop, while Mimi put on her hat. "I haven't worn this in years. It's the perfect thing to wear when walking out in this type of area, since the sun is constantly out. It helps to block the sun's rays. That's why I got it before going to summer camp all those years ago."

The boy was only half-listening, as he was checking out his Pineapple Laptop. When turning it on, he checked the computer's stats. The battery was curiously fully charged, and seemed to boot up faster than usual, like it'd had an upgrade of some sort. "Peculiar..."

"I wonder how these got here."

"Yeah, this is highly unusual and strange, even for the Digital World. You somehow obtained something you lost, and I obtained something that was left back in our world."

"Well, we're getting closer to the oasis. Let's hurry up, get there, and rest up before going back to that building we saw. I sense a long walk ahead of us."

Koushirou shutdown the laptop, slipped it back into its case, and strapped it to his back and decided to check out its connectivity later, or if he could tap into a wireless network or 'hotspot'. "I know what you mean. We probably should rest up and also try to come up with a solution to our predicament."

Mimi nodded, and the two headed towards the oasis, both relieved that it wasn't a mirage...

Fic Chapter Changes

Originally, Birdramon caught Sora on her back. I'd forgotten that for the show, Sora and the others were never shown riding on her back, and that's because her entire body is pretty much fiery and dangerously hot. The only parts that are safe are Birdramon's mouth/beak and her talons.


	17. Destined Meeting

Welcome back everyone. Here's another chapter for you which kind of explain things, and have more "alternate storyline" stuff for it. This chapter discusses briefly stuff dealing with the past adventures. I can't really explain it too well, so I'll just leave you all to read for yourselves. As for the next chapter, expect some more of the Chosen Children's Digimon, three in particular.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with Digimon. Toei and Bandai have that honor.

Chapter 16: "いらっしゃい! 私の話を聞いて下さい"  
"Irasshai! Watashi no hanashi o kiite kudasai."  
"Welcome to my home. Please listen to my story." The Meeting of Destiny...

A small girl, who felt as if she'd been wandering around aimlessly for hours, had finally grown quite tired and a bit hungry, despite having already eaten earlier. She looked to be about six years old, and was wearing a pair of dingy blue jeans and a butterfly t-shirt. After arriving in the strange world, she was in search of her friend, but so far, was having no luck in finding him. Not knowing what else to do, she decided to just walk, but was drawn to a bright light that was in the distance. She had no idea what this light was, or where it was coming from, but she felt that she should pursue it.

After about an hour of trekking, she arrived at what looked to be an old town, but it was deserted, or either the inhabitants of the place had all gone in for the night. Ahead of the medieval-looking town, she saw a pathway, and kept on towards it. That's where the light was coming from. The peeking moon began to shine brightly as she kept moving (night had finally arrived), passing by the abandoned stands and shops along the way.

She'd finally reached her destination, or so she felt she had anyway. At the end of the pathway was a large, luxurious home. *It was the equivalent of what the western world called a "mansion". After standing for a short while, she finally got the nerve to knock on the tall, wooden door. She heard the knock echo throughout the home.

A short moment went by, and the door creaked open; behind it, stood a woman with long, flowing red hair wearing a majestic-looking white dress. It looked to be glowing. Beside this woman, was a creature that resembled a swan, only a bit taller and bigger than an average-sized one.

"I see you have finally arrived," the woman stated with a small, gentle smile. "Welcome to my home."

"Huh? What?"

"Please, do come in."

The young girl entered the home slowly as the swan-like creature closed the door behind them. From the entrance, the girl saw a couple of stairwells, the railings looking to be made of some type of oak or pine. Regardless of what it was made of, the place looked expensive. There were also strange looking instruments and gadgets on pedestals and such, as well as devices she had no knowledge of.

As they walked through the home towards wherever the lady and swan were leading her, she noticed many photos on the wall. She grew captivated by the pictures, and began to study them. Most of the photos were of Digimon, despite her lack of knowledge about the digital creatures and the Digital World, and just continued on. Some had humans in them, and one that had caught her eye in particular had five children in it, all with a Digimon by their sides.

In another photograph she saw a picture that resembled a younger version of the character, Obi-Wan Kenobi of the _Star Wars_ franchise. He looked to be in his early teens. In another photo, he saw the same person with four others, and they were all smiling and posing for the camera. They looked like the same five children who were in the other photo she'd seen. In another, she saw the same guy with his arm draped around the shoulder of the lady who had let her into the mansion, only she looked to be a slightly younger version of her.

She saw more and more photographs focused on those particular five people, and, for some inexplicable reason, found it all interesting. At the end of the corridor that all of these photos were, stood a small, wooden table with a framed photo. She picked it up, the frame seeming to weigh as much as the table looked. *On it, was a photo which consisted of an old-looking man in some kind of metal contraption, some Digimon, one of which that resembled a robot, and eight children. The youngest-looking girl of the photo seemed familiar to her, like she'd seen her older someplace.

"How do you like the photographs?"

The girl jumped as she set the one she'd been looking at, back onto the table. The woman had startled her, but the swan-like creature was currently no place to be found. "I'm sorry for being rude."

The redhead looked at the photos, quite fixated on the one on the table. "They say that a photo can tell an entire story just by the way the subjects are acting within them, or so the saying goes. I've always been bad at remembering old sayings."

"Thank you for your hospitality, and I'm sorry for intruding, but I don't know where I am. I'm looking for my friend. Do you think you can help me? Maybe use your phone to call home?"

"Why not have yourself a rest, first? We could have some tea and snacks. The sitting room is already set up for a guest. I would recommend using the parlour, but it's a bit chilly out for that. It's much more invigorating to use during those lovely spring days, where the breezes are absolutely revitalizing, and the sweet smelling flowers of the garden just permeates the entire room with its lovely fragrance."

Skeptical, she nodded slowly, and followed the woman towards the "sitting room". The girl was never too good with world history, but the entire house seemed to be something from out of a British novel taking place during maybe the Victorian era. In the sitting room, there was a fire going, a couple of cushioned chairs, and a small table in front of it. On the other side of the cozy, carpeted room was a bookshelf with lots of foreign books. Well, they were to her anyway since most of the books' titles were in English. She really felt like she was trapped in a British novel, as the room reminded her of something that one would see in a Sherlock Holmes mystery and she only knew that much from watching Detective Conan.

"Please, have a seat. Make yourself comfortable."

The girl awkwardly sat in the chair closest to the fire. She felt weird to be in such a room and found it strange how there wasn't any place for her to remove her shoes when first entering the home. She felt under-dressed to even set foot in it, but the fire felt very comforting. Her long walk to the house had left her a bit cold since she was wearing short sleeves. "Th-thank you."

The lady set a tray down and sat opposite of her. She had put down what appeared to be the most beautiful, most expensive looking pure silver tea set the girl had ever set eyes on. She set a cup and saucer in front of the girl as well as for herself. The teacups looked to be made of porcelain, or some other gentle - more than likely, expensive - material.

"Would you like some tea? It's a very good blend. It's black tea."

"No-no thank you."

"Very well then." She poured herself a cup, and stirred in some milk and sugar to the bitter beverage. "Would you like any of the snacks prepared here? Might I recommend the tea cake? It's quite complementary."

On the tray was an assortment of sweet cakes, plus the one the lady had just mentioned. "No thank you, but can you help me?"

"I'm sure we can. I'm quite sure that you can help us out as well."

"Help you?"

She nodded. "Yes, I am quite certain of this." She took a sip of her hot tea, but still wasn't satisfied with the taste. She added some more sugar to it. "If we help each other, you will most definitely find your friend."

"I don't understand."

"Other than your concerns and where-a-bouts of your friend, I'm sure you have many other questions; am I right?" She nodded. This woman was starting to scare her a bit from being so "all-knowing" and found her overly polite form of Japanese a bit unnerving. "Ask away."

"Where exactly am I? And how come you seem to have a Digimon?"

"Are you referring to my companion who of which you saw when I answered the door?" She nodded again. "Yes, you are correct. That creature you saw is a Digimon; my Digimon partner. We've been friends for many years now." She took another sip of her tea, finally content with its taste. "And as for where you are, is it not obvious?"

"Am-am I in the Digital World?"

"Yes, you are. You have been chosen to come to the Digital World."

"Why was I chosen and why am I a kid?" She shuddered, and glowered slightly. 'I don't want to relive those years over...I don't want to go through all that abuse and suffering again...'

The angelic woman set her tea down, stood up and headed towards the mantle place. She looked at the framed photos setting atop it. The woman stared at one in particular of a dark-haired man wearing a long, off-white robe.

"Excuse me, but are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry. I was a bit lost in thought. Now, I shall answer your question." Before she could start, her swan like Digimon entered the room. Beside the chair the woman had been sitting in, was an ottoman. The swan took a seat there. "As monotonous as this may sound, an evil force is trying to take over this lovely world, and when he's done with this one, he'll try to take over the world in which you live."

"That sounds typical and predictable, like something out of a manga or anime, but how can _I_ help? I don't know anything about Digimon or of this world."

"You have come in contact with Digimon before, and you do not seem to fear them; besides, there is an inexplicable aura coming from you. It's incredibly strong. I don't know how you will help, but I feel that you will in some way."

"Oh-kay?"

"When you first encountered Digimon, was it when Vamdemon took over your city?"

"I think so," the girl answered with uncertainty. She actually wasn't very confident if that was her first time or not, but why would she think otherwise? "I remember it pretty well, but I didn't feel too scared, not like my mother and brothers. It was like I knew everything was going to get better, and that...Vamdemon thing, would get his in the end for kidnapping all of us."

The woman stared at her, and nodded, as if reaching some type of a conclusion. "Hmm, so that is probably why when summoning the other children that you were chosen as well."

"I think you're mistaken, ma'am. I'm just an 11-year-old girl from Odaiba who just happens to remember everything dealing with the monsters that attacked my home, not counting what happened about a couple of years ago, since I don't remember it too clearly. For some weird reason, that's still a bit of a blur."

"You were summoned for a reason, and I shall assume that that was the reason."

"But I wasn't the only one who saw Vamdemon. There were tons of people around for that. Why summon me and not them?"

"I have no idea, but I was given the power to summon the children who have helped the Digital World in some way or form, thanks to the four Holy Beast Guardians. They help to keep the Digital World safe, but they can only do so much." She took her seat again, and sipped some more of her tea. "I am Empress of this world, and of this particular region. The one who usually helps to keep this region safe and under control went after our enemy on his own; no one has seen him since then."

The woman, who had worn a confident, yet gentle, smile the majority of the time, was starting to fade as a forlorn frown slowly began to creep to her face. She looked to be trying her best not to cry. "We cannot fight against him alone. I just know the enemy has done something to Gennai-san."

"Gennai? That name sounds a little familiar...Oh yeah, Iori-kun mentioned him to me. He said that he was the one who gave him and the other Chosen Children some power from a Digimon named, um...let's see, I remember the name sounded Chinese...oh yeah...Qinglongmon!"

"He is one of the four Holy Beast Guardians who guards this world. He is responsible for the Eastern Hemisphere, which is what we are in right now.

"Baihumon, the Tiger Beast, is responsible for the Western Hemisphere; Xuanwumon, the Turtle Beast, is responsible for the North; Zhuqiaomon, the Phoenix, is responsible for the South.

"All four of them are very important here, and are very well-respected, even Zhuqiaomon-sama, who has always been a bit on the strange side with his autonomous ways. They gave me this particular power to open up various gates, to bring you all back. So far, I was only able to get children from the south-eastern region, meaning those of you from Japan."

"So there are more people here?"

"Yes, there are."

"What about Iori-kun?"

"We will meet up with all of them fairly soon - most likely, tomorrow - but as for your friend, he has to find his way first."

"Find his way here?"

"No, he has to find his other friends first and clear the area he has been summoned to. They have to fight off all of our enemy's followers, and as of the moment, most are resting up for battle."

"But _what_ about Iori-kun?!"

"I already know that he will succeed, due to his true admiration for the Digital World."

"And you know this _how_?"

"Let's just call it woman's intuition," she answered with a small chuckle.

"Um...y-eah. Anyway, you still haven't explained why I'm much younger than I'm supposed to be and why my clothes are different."

"According to my visions and the prophecy, only children can defeat such an enemy. That is why you were all brought back as much younger versions of your current selves, or more than likely the age you were when first encountering a Digimon, or when first becoming a Chosen Child.

"All of the children that Gennai-san spoke so highly of were Chosen Children with partners."

"Except for me..."

"Yes, this may be true, but as I stated before, I do sense that you will help aid the others in some way. That part of my vision has never been quite clear."

"If you say so, but I'm curious about something else now. If you have Qinglongmon as guardian of this particular sector of the Digital World, then why are you and this Gennai-san person so necessary, and what about Ichijouji-san? Wasn't he the Digimon Kaiser at one point?"

"Yes, that's true. He was pretty much self-appointed, and after his adventure, I guess you could say that the guardians didn't see him as much of a threat and didn't even fathom that his becoming the 'Digimon Kaiser' was even worth their trouble, which was why my services weren't really needed at that time.

"After the reformation, security here has increased incredibly to prevent anything like that from happening again. This is also why the guardians are more accepting of me and my warnings now, even Zhuqiaomon-sama of the south. I did warn them about Ichijouji-san, but they didn't really believe me. They had up to that point, but just figured that for once, I was wrong.

"I remember Zhuqiaomon-sama going on about how a human couldn't possibly manage to take over the Digital World; sure one could try, but he was very doubtful. No human could ever obtain such a power. After all of the mayhem caused by him, they took my words at face-value more seriously and realized that my visions are usually never wrong.

"Now, as for your other question, I shall explain as best I can. Each part of this world, the east, west, north, and south, has a ruler and god. The gods can only do so much. They need someone to help keep things in-tact for their areas." The girl stared at the woman, clearly not understanding completely. "I suppose I should find a better way of explaining that." The young girl nodded. "Well, Qinglongmon-sama is like the manager of this part of the Digital World, and all managers need workers, or supervisors, to help carry out and maintain their tasks. I, as well as my friend, was chosen for the Eastern Hemisphere, since we're from this region originally."

"I guess I got that, but I have another question now."

"Go ahead."

"You said to beat this Digimon, everyone had to be brought back as a child since the prophecy, and your vision, said that to defeat him, that they must be children or have the mindset of a child."

"Yes, that is correct."

"But isn't there a mistake with this plan?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I may look like a kid, but I'm still thinking like my 11-year-old self."

"It seems so. That is something I didn't even factor, so I cannot explain it."

"Now, about Iori-kun, when will we go and get him? Where will we meet him?"

"According to what I envisioned, your friend, and his colleagues, will meet up in the last area that needs to be ridden of those filthy Digimon...the factory of Ebemon.

"For now, though, I suggest you relax and get a good night's rest. We can talk more in the morning and I'll have a meal prepared for you as well. Porridge is quite good at this time of the year, unless you prefer a big breakfast meal."

The young girl, who didn't get the majority of what was said, dealing with the prophecy and such, just shrugged it off. She found Iori's safety more important, as well as the identity of this woman, but she didn't feel that she should fear her, despite the super polite way she had spoken and it all seemed natural...not like she was putting on an act. The girl began to nibble on one of the pastries. Her stomach was now completely empty of the burger she'd eaten earlier, and could no longer take the growling feeling within it.

"Excuse me, but I never did catch your name."

"That's because I didn't throw it," she responded with defensive caution, "but it's Eiji; Tezuka Eiji."

"We were very rude, don't you think?" the swan-like Digimon spoke up. "We didn't properly introduce ourselves either."

She nodded, as both she and her Digimon partner introduced themselves to Eiji...

Author's Notes

Note 1: I'm pretty sure you're curious what I meant by, "It was equivalent of what the western world called a 'mansion'." Well, in Japan, a mansion isn't what we would consider a mansion. For us, a mansion is pretty much a really large, expensive house found in like Malibu or Beverly Hills owned by rich folks. In Japan, a "mansion" is pretty much a condo.  
x x x  
Note 2: Do you think you can figure out what the photo is with the "familiar looking girl"?


End file.
